Teach Me to Live
by Makeshift Harmony
Summary: Kakashi's got a new mission, and Iruka's got a score to settle. Kakairu
1. Mission Misgivings and Devious Senseis

Disclamer: I do not own Naruto or any if its characters.

A/N: This happens to be my first fanfiction story...ever... and no I have no beta reader or anything so if I've screwed up, lemme know. I'm more than happy to take constructive comments, and if you're gonna flame me, oh well, thats what the delete option is for.

Warnings: Guys in love...don't like it...don't read it.

"Don't look at me like that…"

"I'm sorry, but considering the circumstances, this just happens to be the only facial expression I can muster up at the moment."

Tsunade sighed and put her head in her hands. "Listen, I have no one left to do this. This is normally an assignment that I would leave for a chunnin, but they are all out on missions. All the other jounin are out on A class and S class missions…"

_Where I belong,_ Hatake Kakashi thought to himself._ This is such bullshit._

"Knock off your sulking brat." Tusnade glared at him.

"I do not sulk. I choose to brood instead. And furthermore, if you are going to imply that I am acting like a child please make sure that you at least identify my childish actions correctly," Kakashi spat out glaring back at his superior.

Tsunade looked up from her paperwork and shot him a look that spoke volumes. It was a cross between "What the Fuck Did You Just Say to Me" and an "I'm Going to Have Sakura Practice Her Vasectomy Medical Training on You" type of look. Kakashi quickly straightened out from his trademark lazy slouch and prepared himself for the outburst he was fixing to receive.

"Hatake, I do NOT have time for this. This IS you mission and you are GOING to accept it soldier!"

_Hmmmm…maybe this won't be as bad as I am making it out to be, let's just see exactly what this dammed mission entails… _"Fine." He snatched the scroll off of her desk and read over the information and names. "Kami, there has to be over 40 names on here…."

"I know. The number of them was unusually large this year. The academy needs help."

_She must be joking….or she's sober. She can't expect me to go through with this, I lack morals…_"Listen," Kakashi decided that the truthful way may be the best approach in this case, "I'll admit, even I don't have the patience for this Tsunade-sama. There MUST be someone else…" Kakashi looked up from his scroll to find a fuming Hokage glaring chakra-coated daggers at him. _Ooooook, that option didn't work…and maybe this really isn't the time to be arguing…_

"Get. Your. Sorry. Ass. In. Gear. And. Prepare. For. Your. Classes. Ka-ka-shi!" Tusname seethed through her already clenched teeth.

"Hai,Tsunade-sama.". With a quick pop and a puff of smoke, the copy-ninja teleported outside the Hokage Tower.

Tsunade grabbed two bottles of sake from underneath her desk. _I should have given one of these to Hatake. _She smiled inwardly at the thought. _He's gonna need it if he plans on surviving the first week of school. Maybe I shouldn't have assigned him the 5 and 6 year olds, bah, he can handle it. If not, it will be worthwhile to watch him quiver under the eyes of a bunch of 1__st__ year academy students. _She took a thoughtful sip. _Genma, you dirty dog, this is one bet that you are definitely going to lose._

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Genma was smothering a giggle from his hiding place in the ceiling. _Oh man Hatake… you have no clue what you are in for. Even I can only handle those brats for just a few days. Thank the gods I'm only a sub……hmmm…. _Genma cracked a bigger smile as an interesting thought crossed his mind. _Hehehe, I think I should give a couple of people a head's up about Hatake coming and hanging out at the Academy for awhile. It's not like this is a classified mission or anything, so "technicially" I'm not doing anything un-shinobi-like by letting them in on his little "mission"……_Genma's eyes widened, his brain almost locking up on the (in his opinion) hilarious details of the situation, and thought about one person in particular who would find this piece of information even more amusing than he was.

_Iruka……You're gonna wet yourself from laughing so hard……_

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Kakashi looked at the list again. _Forty-five students. Shit, I couldn't keep up with three, much less this many. _Kakashi frowned at this thought, recalling the days when he had Team 7 under his tutelage. Even though his team members had gone separate ways, things were easier then. Those students came to him already knowledgeable in the different areas of being a shinobi. With these academy students he would have to start from scratch. Kakashi sighed as he put away the scroll he was using for his current reading material to replace it with his Icha Icha novel. He turned towards the path leading to the Academy and began to make his way towards what he felt was his everlasting doom. _They want me to teach mini-nin. There's no way I'm going to do this. I mean…it's not that I can't or anything…it's just that I'm Hatake Kakashi for kami's sake! Sharingan Kakashi! The infamous One-Eyed Copy Nin! I didn't spend all my years being a ninja to wind up a stuffy academy teacher. I have better things to attend to ... like…ummm… reading porn. _Kakashi nodded his head in agreement with his inner thoughts.

_Alright genius, time to think of a way out of this. There has got to be a way…_

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"Alright class, bring your kunai tomorrow. We will be spending the entire day discussing and practicing tactical throwing techniques as well as learning how to formulate your enemy's kunai trajectory paths." Groans and looks of despair came from all corners of the classroom. Okay, maybe that was going over the top a little. Iruka sighed inwardly.

_Hmm, I guess I'm going to have to liven things up a bit. _

"I'll bring a live, MOVING, target to practice with…"

The classroom bellowed a large "WHOOP!" before tearing out of the classroom door while chattering to one another about tactics and who would be able to draw "first blood". Iruka sighed again, wondering where he went wrong in teaching the children kunai throwing techniques. He also felt sorry for the person who going to be making a guest appearance in his classroom tomorrow. _"Shit, who in the hell am I going to talk into being a moving target for a bunch of 8 and 9 year olds who are just getting the hang of throwing weaponry?" _Actually 'flinging weaponry' would be better words for what the kids were doing, but a few were progressing along nicely and he had to give them credit.

He turned his attention to the stack of scrolls that were lying on his desk begging to be graded. _I wish I hadn't made them do an essay on the theory behind genjitsus, although, it be interesting to read what they have to say about them. _Iruka sighed for a third time in 10 minutes. _I really need a genjitsu to fall on me right about now; I wouldn't mind the hallucination…_

A familiar chakra flare was coming from the hallway. Iruka looked up in time to see Genma strolling into his classroom with a peculiar look on his face. Iruka thought he looked like he had been throwing up and laughing at the same time. _Hmmm. Genma. With an expression that screams "Tickle me and I'll hurl on your sandals". Nice. This should be interesting…_

"Guess who's coming to pay our fine academy a prolonged visit?" Genma squeaked out, obviously trying to control his laughter…or puke. Iruka cautiously placed the trash can in between them just in case Genma couldn't contain himself. He also started to draw a mental map on what furniture was where in his classroom. He didn't want a desk or a bench to be in the way of his escape route if Genma's vomit was going to take on projectile forms of spewage.

"Um, I don't know? Are you ok Genma-san? You look kind of…pukey…"

"Just guess."

"Will you not throw up on me if I guess correctly?"

Genma looked at him quizzically. "Erm…why would I throw up on you?"

"No reason…heh…soooooooo who's visiting the academy?"

"Well, they have found Taki-san a replacement."

"Ahh," Taki had been gone for two months now. Iruka knew that occasionally academy teachers were sent on missions every now and then, but for a teacher to be gone for two months was usually not a good sign. "Tsunade-sama has given up hope on seeing him return?"

"I don't think she ever gives up, but I think she is trying to be rational in this situation."

_That's a first. She must have finally sobered up. Or Shizuine henged into the Hokage and started doing her work for her. _Iruka felt a smile come across his face._ Either way…at least they are trying to help the situation instead of continually finding substitutes for the poor kids. They have been though 14 subs already….not that it's entirely the childrens fault or anything…ok well maybe they are a small part of the reason why the subs are choosing to leave... _

There was this one time at recess when an exploding tag laced with stink bomb fluid went off inside the teacher's desk…..

Who was he kidding….this group of first year academy students made Naruto look like an angel. _Boy, I don't envy the teacher that winds up with them. In fact, I don't think that there's anyone willing enough to volunteer for this position. Oh gawd..unless…Tsunade wouldn't have…._ Iruka's train of thought broke from the sounds of something tapping. He looked up and found Genma looking quite put out.

"Are you gonna guess or not?" Genma tapped his foot impatiently at the chunnin. Iruka snapped his attention back to the senbon-chewing jounin.

"Sorry, I was supposed to be guessing…right….erm…Ebisu?"

"Nope, try someone more…flashy."

"Gai-sensei?!?! Please tell me you're kidding…" Iruka wasn't sure if he could handle working so close to Kohona's Green Beast. He could only handle so much sparkling and spandex.

"No, besides he's out on a mission at the moment, although THAT would be almost as interesting to watch. Hmmm, maybe flashy isn't the right word. How about….crazy?"

_Thanks a lot Genma, which only leaves me with ALL of the jounins to pick from. Being crazy is a freaking requirement to even BE a jounin. Hmmm maybe he means the craziest. _He could only think of one right off the top of his head.

"Anko?"

"Anko…with small children….I don't think so." Genma scratched the back of his head. "Ok, lemme think of another word to describe this person….eh…anti-role-model-ish?" Genma looked at Iruka, hoping that maybe that would be enough this time.

"Personally, I wouldn't recommend a jounin to be a candidate for a role model….but that's my thoughts." Iruka tapped his finger to his forehead, trying to place a specific person to those adjectives that Genma was supplying. "Asuma …maybe…he smokes in front of kids…"

"Oh come on Iruka!" Genma shook his head in disbelief. This chunnin could be just so dense sometimes. "Fine! This will give it away…this person is weird…as in "reads porn in public" type of weird!" _Kami, if he can't correctly guess this time…_

Iruka eyes widened in shock, or fear, or just general awe. Needless to say, he was going through many emotions…maybe if he just started alphabetically from appalled to zoinked, he could cover them all…..

_Heh nevermind….it finally clicked. _Genma's face contorted back to the pukey-grin.

_No wonder he's smiling like that. _Iruka though, his feet frozen to where they were…he was still in shock. _No way. No fucking WAY. They are against Anko teaching. But they are letting Hatake…. _Iruka just moved his mouth up and down, trying to convey his present feelings toward Hatake Kakashi with small innocent children. _Ok, maybe not totally innocent, but still. Wait…._ Iruka finally closed his mouth and smiled…evilly. He hadn't forgotten about the time before the chunnin exams where Kakashi had made him look foolish in front of everyone, including the Third Hokage. Iruka honestly felt that his students were not ready, and Kakashi made him feel smaller than a blade of grass with his cutting remarks and his look of indifference. It was almost like he didn't care what happened to his team, and it infuriated Iruka to no end. _This isn't the chunnin exams, and I think it's time I got a little retribution. Besides…..this is going to make for some serious entertainment._

"Hmmm so our illustrious Copy-Nin is going to grace us with his presence neh? We should make him feel right at home." Iruka dropped his evil grin and replaced it with a simple serene smile. Genma felt his stomach roll. He knew Iruka and how much Kakashi's words had bothered him after the chunnin exams. He almost felt sorry for Kakashi….almost….

"So, how are you plot….err …planning to welcome him" Genma asked in a casual tone.

Iruka smiled and was fixing to respond when his classroom door opened. A man with unruly gray hair stepped just inside the door frame. He put his hand on the back of his head and gave a questioning look (well what looked like a questioning look…it was difficult to read though the mask that he wore) towards the two ninjas that stood in front of him.

"Yo. Umm could someone tell me which room is 213? I'm here to replace Taki-san."

Iruka smiled innocently at the man standing in the doorway. "Of course Kakashi-san, room 213 is just right behind you across the hall."

"Thanks." Kakashi turned and stepped across the hallway.

_You just wait Kakashi, I'm gonna love watching you squirm in front of those kids, ooooh and said kids…. which by the way….. need shuriken practice…_

"Hey Kakashi-san, did you need help with your lesson plan for tomorrow?" Iruka asked, and then proceeded to follow Kakashi to his classroom, "Cause if you're stuck, I'd be more than happy to help you start" he quipped.

Genma looked at Iruka with an incredulous look on his face and muttered under his breath "Wow, not wasting any time are we, sensei?"


	2. For the Good of the Village

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Naruto.

A/N Thanks to everyone who gave me a review. I'm totally floored. I figured I'd be paying people to read this! Anyways, this chapter came awfully fast, hopefully the next one will as well. Thanks again for the awesome reviews!

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"Maaaaa, Iruka-sensei," Kakashi scratched the back of his head while eyeing the chunnin, "are you sure this is type of weapons training is ….acceptable?"

"Hai, hai!" Iruka flashed him a toothy grin. "This gives the kids a chance to see what it's really like out there in the field. And this is also considered on-the-job training as well." Iruka answered cheerfully. _Hmmm maybe too cheerfully, _he thought to himself,_ I need to tone it down a bit if I want to pull this off._

"But isn't the first field test after they become Genin is when they technically start their on-the-job training?" Kakashi asked, squinting back down at the lesson plan that Iruka was 'helping' him with.

_Shit, think of something Umino…._ Iruka furrowed his eyebrows at Kakashi. He gathered up his nerves and steeled himself for the debate. He knew Kakashi would have a different outlook on this type of teaching practices, but Iruka also knew that Kakashi, no matter how insane he truly was, was still a Kohona ninja underneath the mask that he wore. All the work involved with training and teaching the young ninjas were for the good of the village after all…..

"Kakashi-sensei, new generations of ninja are becoming stronger everyday. We must be strategic in planning out our lessons and begin instructing the children early in this type of weapons training to prepare them. In the case of a village-wide invasion, the children would be able to effectively perceive the enemy's actions and tactics. All we are really teaching them to do right now is to distract the enemy enough to get away." Iruka answered him is his best educated voice.

"Children and civilians are supposed to go to the shelter in the Hokage Monument, not compete with their elders in attaining and evading the enemy's attention, not to mention that they would be making themselves a target or a bargaining tool if they were to be caught." Kakashi said, as he looked up from his lesson plan. He studied the chunnin's face for a moment before turning his attention to weapons cabinet that stood in the corner of the classroom. _Children with weapons, hmmmm. I'm not quite sure I like the sound of that. Although I know they do start at an early age. Of course I graduated when I was six years old. I barely remember what all I was taught here at the academy…_

"That is true Kakashi-sensei, but nonetheless, these are required survival techniques that are instructed here at the Kohona Ninja Academy. If for some reason that any of the children were to be separated from their families in a time of crisis, they should at the very least be prepared to evade the enemy. And throwing kunai and shuriken are techniques used to help slow down the enemy. They have to be properly schooled on the subject and be able to 'hit' a moving target." Iruka turned away from Kakashi took a breath and grinned like a mad man. "Besides, how many ninja do you know from experience that will freely sit in one spot and LET shuriken and kunai be thrown in their direction?" _Heh, we both know what that answer is. Wow, they are right when they say that he is a genius._ _But, on the other hand, geniuses don't have enough sense to come in out of the rain. _Iruka thought to himself. He was determined not to lose this battle of teaching ethics to Kakashi, as odd as that sounded. _Besides, I heard that he graduated when he was six. He might have spent a total of 10 months here at the academy. And with all those jutsus bouncing about in his brain, the need for having memories from his childhood is practically non-existent. He has no clue on how we actually 'teach' the arts of throwing weaponry for the simple fact that he doesn't remember. _Iruka gave Kakashi a smug look. _Heh, this is a game I can win, Hatake, prepared to be owned!_

Kakashi gave Iruka a startled look. _What he's saying is very true. Hmm, well then it looks like I have no choice. Besides, Iruka-sensei has been teaching academy students for quite some time now. I practically have an expert telling me how and what to train my new pupils. Hehe, this isn't going to be as bad as I thought after all. _"That is excellent reasoning, but how exactly am I supposed to be able to teach them how to throw properly and be a moving target at the same time?" Kakashi asked.

"You have the Sharingan, Kakashi-sensei, and it's not like you are going to have to be thinking of different jutsus to ward the children off. This isn't that kind of training exercise. It's just simple weapons, and besides, you're actually better off teaching the children how to throw better than what I can," Iruka gave Kakashi a small pout, complete with a lip-quiver, "I'm actually going to be jealous in watching you teach them… um …say….um…maybe you could help out my class a little too…"

"I don't know Iruka-sensei; I already have 45 of my own to watch..."

"No no, I mean, I'll help you with organizing the lessons and all, but my class could use an expert's eye in watching their techniques." Iruka knew he was laying it on thick, he just hoped he was building the other ninja's ego enough to persuade him. "I'll handle getting the kids together and making sure that they don't cause any trouble, and you can do the actual teaching part. I'll be there to help and give you any advice if you have to explain anything technical to the younger ones. This would be a good first experience with the kids and everyone will get off to a good start." _Kami, I should sell tickets to this…._

"Well," Kakashi tapped his cheek thoughtfully, "Since tomorrow is my first day and all, I really wouldn't mind the help. And I'm honored to hear that you think my services here could help your class as well. I'd be delighted to share our classroom time together tomorrow." Kakashi's visible eye crinkled up in a smile. _Yeah, and what other usefulness can I get out of you Iruka? This whole teaching thing cuts into my reading time, and I can't go without my daily dose of erotica..._

"Well then!" Iruka chirped, "Tomorrow we will have a high-quality practice. Make sure you are here at 8 a.m.!" Iruka was practically skipping toward the classroom door, "Oh, Kakashi-sensei, I know that you like to show up late to your..um..meetings," Iruka knew all too well, he could write a script just from Naruto's personal accounts of his former sensei's tardiness. "Tsunade-sama would be highly upset if academy classes ran past their usual time just because a teacher decided to come to work late."

Kakashi frowned. He hadn't thought about this. This would definitely be different than teaching Genin. _I'll just get up earlier to go visit Obito. I may not be able to be late like I used to be, but I refuse to give up my time at the memorial._

"Maaa, you drive a hard bargain Iruka-sensei, but I'll be here on time." _I'd also rather not piss off Tsunade any more than what she already is._ _But Iruka doesn't need to know all that…_

"Excellent! See you tomorrow then!" Iruka bounced out the door. _He is quite an enthusiastic teacher,_ Kakashi said to himself as he watched the chunnin instructor leave, _Maaa, he makes me tired just watching him._ He looked down at his lesson plan. They had only discussed tomorrow's activities. What would he do for the rest of the week? _Of course, that's what Iruka is for, heh the man is way too open and easy to manipulate. How he ever became a ninja is beyond m, he apparently has good communication and personnel skills to teach children, but nothing special though. _Kakashi looked around the classroom, wishing he'd had gotten more out information out of the other ninja before letting him bounce out the door. _See that's another thing, ninjas do NOT bounce._ Kakashi sighed. _Maaa, I'm probably being too hard on him, he could be a great ninja for all I know. But what I have figured out so far is that he is way too trusting and helpful towards people he's not that familiar with …now…..where was I…._ Kakashi pulled back out his Icha Icha book and opened it to a dog-eared page. He propped his feet up on the desk and settled in for some light, X-rated reading. _Iruka is going to handle the kids while I do a little lecture on weapons, …hrmph… teaching is too easy….._

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_I can't believe I fucking pulled that off! _Iruka was busy hurtling across rooftops at speeds only attainable by elite jounin. Perhaps it was the adrenaline boost that he had as soon as he heard Kakashi agree to their 'joint classroom experience', or maybe it was the excited thought of seventy kids throwing sharp objects at Kakashi's appendages. It didn't matter, Iruka's brain was overloading with numerous thoughts about the entire situation. _I'm not keeping this a secret. He humiliated me in front of the other ninja; it's only polite that I return the favor._ The thought of having a full scale audience at Kakashi's pin-cushion party gave Iruka another spike of adrenaline. He changed his direction and started heading towards the Hokage tower. _I know it's my day off from the mission room, but there's no rule that says I can't stop by and chat with a few of my fellow comrades._

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"Iruka!" Izumo looked up from his pile of paperwork. "What are you doing here? You usually don't come within a 200 foot radius of the tower on your days off."

"I know, buuuuuuut I thought you might be able to help a fellow coworker out."

"Sure!" Izumo waved his hand in front of Kotetsu's face. "Hey, pay attention; I might need your help."

"With what?" Kotetsu pushed Izumo's had away from his face. "What's going on Iruka? Why do you look all…pukey" Kotetsu paused, waiting for a rebuttal from Iruka. _Didn't Genma come through here earlier with that same weird look? I hope it's not a virus…._

Iruka brushed off the comment. "Come here, I got some interesting information." Kotetsu and Izumo leaned in.

Their huddle was quickly broken up by Anko. She noticed the trio and noticed even further that Iruka was in the mission room….on his day off. That was sacrilegious. So she had a reason to come over and put her favorite chunnin in a headlock. "Iruka-kun! What gossip do you have for me? I know you have gossip for me…otherwise you'd be miles from here," Anko put a little more of a squeeze in her grip "Right, Iruka-kun?"

"Hai," Iruka squeaked out, "But if you knock me out then I won't be able to tell you, and trust me, this gossip is good." Anko dropped the hold and Iruka took a few moments to get his vision straight. _That woman and her death-grip are too dangerous together, heh, well at least she is hearing this from me, or she would be tracking me down later asking for verification. And Anko is practically known for being the town crier; I wonder how many people she can tell in 14 hours…._

Iruka smiled at Anko. "You're not gonna believe it if I told you…"

"Try me Iruka-kun, I'm bored and I need some excitement."

"Think you can be at the academy training field at 7:30 in the morning?"

"Jaa, I can," Anko raised her eyebrow at Iruka, "But the question is…WHY would I want to be there?"

"Well, let me tell you……"

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Kakashi finally wandered out of the school room sometime after dark. As he made his way home, he pondered about tomorrow's activities. He needed to know his students at some point, but was unsure about asking about their personal lives. He also wanted to know if any of them possessed a bloodline trait. Not that he would exploit it or anything, he would just be aware of it. _Expect the unexpected and look underneath the underneath. Granted they are but just mere children, I know that there has to be a reason why this was made into a mission and not taken as a volunteer job. The kids might be troublesome…and I don't like the way that desk smelled……Bah I'll just ask Iruka on how to get to know them. He'll probably be more than happy to tell me….._


	3. Memorial Confessions and Tree Ninjas

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto…..dammit…..

A/N: Holy Crap! This damn story is like nagging at me, and yes I am looking into beta programs. Sorry, the last chapter just flew out of my head and personally I didn't like how it was written…but I'm my own worst enemy. I'll never get my college course work done at this rate…..

Sorry for dragging the plot out…but my mind just won't let go of these little details. And thank you again for all the reviews!

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"Yes, I know I'm here early to visit…don't act so shocked. You know I can be on time and even early when I want to. The reason I'm here is because Tsunade forced a mission on me that has to deal with…small…children. Teaching at the academy to be exact. And yes I know what you're thinking… that I'm not capable and lack the ethics to handle this mission…and yes Obito, I promise it IS a mission…although it probably started out as a bet, knowing the Hokage….." Kakashi mumbled to the unmoving mass of stone that bore his deceased teammate's name. Talking to inanimate objects may be considered odd by some, but Kakashi found himself at ease with his one-sided discussions. This was the only place he felt that he could reach out and be heard by his fallen comrades. Obito was the one he spoke to the most. "You know that one teacher that I got into an argument with before the chunnin exams? The one named Umino Iruka? I know I told you this…." Kakashi paused, like he was expecting Obito to answer him through the dew that was beginning to settle on the memorial's surface. "Well, he's helping me tomorrow. I am grateful and all, maybe I can learn something useful." He paused once more, and scowled at the rock. "I'm not going to 'use' him for information….well…ok….maybe a little …damn you Obito….I know you don't like my tactics for this, but Iruka-sensei doesn't need to know…really…." His gaze darkened even more, his voice barely a whisper, "I'm trying, I really am. I don't want to be like this. I …." He sighed. Being able to admit your inner weaknesses to the dead was a lot easier than admitting them to another person or one's own self for that matter. "I know this is different, I know they are small impressionable children, and you know something…..I kind of want to be looked up to instead of feared this time. Is it too much of me to ask for that? I know I'm nowhere near what most people see as being a model shinobi, but that's not what I'm aiming to be. Well yes I know…being a genius combined with the ability to be a cold-blooded killer when necessary does have a tendency to strike fear into the hearts of…well…I suppose everyone….except Anko….that's more of a turn on in her opinion… and Ibiki probably shares her opinion as well." Another pause. " I just want to be accepted by the people that I know. I'm merely tolerated by others because Fire Country sees me as a valuable asset. There's more to me than that, and no one knows but you and Sensei."

Kakashi stopped his conversation with Obito to stare at the Fourth Hokage's engraved name. _Forgive me Sensei, for my weakness…I…I can't even speak out loud to you. I know where I lack in my duties here as an academy sensei….just….grant me your wisdom on attaining the patience that I'm so going to desperately need. I failed with Naruto, Sauske, and Sakura, I cannot stomach the thought of failing again. _

Kakashi shifted his eyes back to Obito's name as he covered back up his inner grief. He smirked at the engraving. "Maaaa, don't worry Obito. I promise you I won't read Icha Icha out loud to them….well at least not the x-rated parts….I wonder if the academy has a sex education class? I think that would be a much more…" He paused once again, "Oh now come on….like you wouldn't want to participate in THAT class…."

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7:30 in the morning can come awfully early for civilian adults that would rather stay inside their peaceful homes, and tucked away comfortably in their beds.

But for Umino Iruka and the 60+ jounin and chunnin that were tightly-packed into a single oak tree…7:30 in the morning couldn't come fast enough.

"Gaaah, dammit Anko! Get your hand off my butt!" Raidou whispered fiercely into the other jounin's ear.

"That isn't my hand, you ass clown! Maybe you should ask our other limb partner…." She looked around Raidou and shot a glare at Genma.

"It's not me! I swear!" Genma exclaimed innocently, promptly putting his hands in plain sight.

"Well it's SOMEONE!"

"Dammit just be quiet!" Tenzo looked down from his spot at the three jounin perched on a smaller branch below him. "Iruka-sensei said we had to be quiet!"

"Well then you need to shut up then, because at the moment you're being the loudest of all." Ibiki informed him. He was perched on the opposite side of the trunk, sharing a branch with Ebisu and Kotetsu.

"This tree is too fucking small…." Asuma mumbled. He was luckier than most of the others because he had gotten here early enough to reserve seats. By doing that, he got to share his branch with Kunerai and Izumo. But Genma's, Anko's and Raidou's legs were practically dangling in their faces.

"For fuck's sake Asuma…put that damn cigarette out before you catch the tree on fire!" Anko scolded.

"Anko…shut…up…"

"Tenzo, don't make me come up there…." Anko looked up and tried to glare at him but only succeeded in jabbing her own self in the eye with Shikamaru's foot. "Owww!" In a brief moment of pure frustration, she violently slapped the boy's foot out of her face…and into the side of Raidou's head.

"Gaaaah! Dammit Anko!" Raidou screamed as he turned to unleash some sort of ninja wrath upon her, but immediately stopped when he saw a semi-murderous gleam in her eyes and decided to let that whole thing slide…at least until they were out of this sardine can of a tree.

"Jaaa…were all supposed to be ninja here…can we at least act like were trying to conceal our chakra so we don't give our position away to Kakashi-sensei and the kids? I mean…..that is the whole point of this isn't it?" Shikamaru vocalized in an indifferent, lazy tone.

Everyone shot (or tried to shoot) the lazy boy an evil eye.

"So troublesome…"

From there on, the bickering amongst them still continued. The trivial arguments these elite ninja were engaging in could have easily outclassed any of Naruto's and Sasuke's old squabbles.

"Can everyone just be quiet!?" (Ebisu)

"Hey! Someone grabbed my ass again!" (Raidou)

"Would you move over?" (Izumo)

"You move over! I can barely move my arms!" (Kunerai)

"Someone needs to wash their flak jacket! It smells like ass up in here!" (Genma)

"That would be your upper lip Shiranui…" (Asuma)

"OUCH!" (Asuma again) (After Genma flicked his senbon in… as he later claimed… an 'innocent and playful' manner and it just so happened to connect with Asuma's shoulder.)

"So troublesome." (Shikamaru) (Who just so happened to witness Genma fling the slender weapon at a well-aimed angle…. and quite brutally for that matter….but he figured that no one wanted to hear his opinion at that moment.)

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Iruka stood at his classroom window and watched the oak tree sway back and forth from its current inhabitants and their juvenile actions. _I hope they knock that shit off before I bring the kids out there. _

_Hmmmm. Maybe I should have picked a bigger tree for them to hide in._

He eyed the tree warily as it made a loud yelping noise. _That sounded like Asuma. _He cringed at the thought of what was actually happening within the tree's foliage.

_Anko certainly did a nice job in enlightening the better half of Konoha's ninja to this little event. I'll need to thank her later by buying her alcohol. _He shuddered at the thought of a drunken Anko. _Ok I'll just give her the money to get drunk….. Much safer that way…._

He left his position at the classroom window and made his way to Kakashi's classroom. He could hear the kids already trying to stir up trouble, and he hoped he could just get them to behave long enough to get them out to the training ground. Anything beyond that he would leave up to Kakashi. _Dodging sharp objects while asking your students what their 'hopes for the future' are is going to be quite interesting. _He glanced though the classroom door's window and got a good look at the occupants inside.

_Well, at least all of them are inside the classroom. Lemme get a head count real quick… _Iruka quickly did a mental count and smiled. _No one's late at least. I guess I'd better go in and get things started._

As soon as Iruka slid open the door, he heard a string snap. Iruka quickly made the signs for a teleportation jutsu and appeared on the other side of the classroom just in time to see a barrage of paper shuriken on strings become undone from their place on the ceiling. They swung down with enough force that they almost made a full arc but stopped when they collided with the classroom outside wall above the doorframe.

_That could have put an eye out, those things swung at face level. And it looks like they used quite a bit of paper in creating them, they were heavier than the normal paper shuriken I usually see in my classroom. _Iruka glared at the children in front of him. _Quite a bloodthirsty bunch, these kids make my class seem submissive, and I have Konohamaru's gang in my class. And that boy's shenanigans alone, without the added help of his friends, rival Naruto's mischief. _

The kids whirled around and saw a fuming Iruka giving them his trademark 'Glare of Doom', complete with a vein protruding from his forehead and neck. The entire class made a gulping noise, virtually in unison, and a few of them began to laugh out of nervousness. They knew Iruka-sensei was a formidable teacher. He had come into their classroom before and seemed to be more than happy to bestow his wrath upon them when they became too out of control.

"Knock off the pranks and get in your seats NOW!" Iruka bellowed.

As they scurried to their seats, Iruka made his way to the weapons cabinet. He opened it up and did a quick inventory to make sure the kids would be well-prepared for today's 'lesson'. After he confirmed that there were more than enough shuriken to go around, he turned to the kids and began to explain the day's activities.

"As I'm sure you already know a new sensei has been assigned to take over your class beginning today. Until he arrives, you will file out into a straight line outside the hallway and wait for my instructions. Besides meeting your new sensei, you will be starting your practice with shuriken today. You will also be joining my class outside at the training grounds for this practice. I suggest that you all listen to mine and Kakashi-sensei's instruction so that you do not injure your fellow classmates or anyone else." Iruka tuned and made his way to the door. "Oh and one more thing…." He stopped and gave the children a serious face. "If any of you are even thinking about misbehaving out there today, I'll make sure that you guys will be scrubbing the outside walls of the academy for the next three months. IS THAT CLEAR?"

"Hai Iruka-sensei!" the class answered, knowing full well that he'd make them do it regardless of what anyone else would have to say about the punishment.

"Start forming a line in an orderly fashion and wait for my instruction." Iruka walked out of the classroom and into his own. He quickly caught everyone's attention and began to give them a run down of today's plans.

"The first-year academy students will be joining us in our practice today." The room became very quiet and many of the kids looked back at him with a confused gaze. "I will be assisting their new teacher, who will also be our 'target' for today. I expect every one of you to be on your best behavior." He looked at the first row of students. "I need you guys to go to the other class's weapons cabinet and retrieve all the boxes of shuriken that are in there. They are located on the bottom shelf. Should be three boxes in all."

"Hai, Iruka-sensei." The kids took off towards the other classroom, while the others waited for instruction.

"Start to form a line outside the classroom next to the other class. I expect you all to keep your hands to yourself and not bully the others around. Is that understood?"

"Hai, Iruka-sensei!" With that, the kids made their way out into the hallway. Iruka stood at the doorway keeping an eye on Kakashi's students and making sure both classes were behaving. He turned away from the doorway, stopping a small girl from joining the lines in the hallway. She looked up at her teacher with her wide, pearl-like eyes, obviously wondering if she had done something wrong.

Iruka gave her a reassuring smile that told her that she wasn't in trouble. "Hannabi-chan, I am going to need some help today, an extra set of eyes to help me watch everyone. Will you be willing to help me out?"

"Of course Iruka-sensei," The young Hyuuga girl blushed at the thought of getting to help her favorite teacher. "I just hope I won't let you down."

"Oh I'm sure you won't. And actually, I only need for you to watch one certain person……"

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The jounin and chunnin stopped their antics long enough to watch Iruka march the students onto the training field and organize them into groups. They were partly in shock of seeing that many students clustered on the field.

"How many of them are Kakashi's?" Kotetsu asked no one in particular.

"His are on the right over there," Genma pointed to the right side of the training field. "Over forty of them in all I believe."

"That many? When did wanting to turn into a ninja become so popular?" Kunerai wondered out loud.

"The Third's death had quite an impact, on everyone, including the children. People began to realize that keeping Konoha safe from intruders should be a priority. That may be the reason for the increase in applicants to the ninja academy." Ibiki reasoned.

"Well I'm glad that I'm not in charge of that class this year, I'd pull my hair out." Anko whispered to Raidou. He bobbed his head up and down in agreement.

"What time is it? My left ass cheek is starting to go numb." Genma asked while trying to shift his position on the branch.

"8:00," Shikamaru said. "On the dot…..of course Kakashi probably won't be here for another hour…."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Further down field, the children could have sworn they heard that tree off to the left let out a miserable groan…..

Iruka looked down at his watch. _Its 8:00 you bastard. Where the hell are you? I told you not to be late……_

_Bah who was I kidding, I knew he would be. _Iruka fought the urge to pace in front of his students. _Get it together Umino, you can't lose it in front of the kids. You won't be able to control the whole group if they see you getting impatient or breaking out into maniacal laughter for that matter…..ok ok, concentrate and breathe….._

Iruka and the kids stared out into the field. It was all they could do until the other sensei arrived.

Iruka's inner self raged internally. _Dammit you bastard…..where the fuck are you?!?!?!_


	4. True Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf

A/N : Wow, I spent a lot of time trying to get this chapter right……so I hope no one's too terribly disappointed. I suck at writing action scenes (I've discovered) so feel free to pound me with criticism, cause Kami knows I need it……

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Naruto, but I do stick them with sharp pointy things at my whim.

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"Maaaa, Iruka-sensei, I thought classes started in the classroom, not on the training field."

Iruka spun around…..and found himself less than a foot away from the face of the man that ridiculed him in front of his fellow shinobi over a year ago.

Iruka fought back the urge to glare as he stared deep into Kakashi's good eye. Of course he couldn't see what truly lay 'underneath the underneath' the gray depths. If Iruka could, he wouldn't have believed it anyways.

No one has ever seen "fear" in Kakashi's eye… or even Obito's eye for that matter….and as long as the Copy-Nin was still breathing, no one ever would.

"Iruka-sensei….hello…are you there?" Kakashi stared at the other man, "Am I late?"

"Yes you…." Iruka paused to glance down at his watch, "…aren't?"

His watch read 8:00:59 a.m.

Impossible.

"Maaa, see, I told you I'd be here on time."

"I…I… see… th..that." _Why am I stuttering? Get it together Iruka! _Iruka started to take in deep breaths of air._ So what? He showed up on time. No big deal…..so what if he's not late. I…must….must stay in control. Come on Iruka, put up your 'indifferent' face…_

"Well, are we going to begin?" Kakashi stopped staring at Iruka and took a look at the students. Iruka had the kids organized into groups, just like he told Kakashi he would the day before. "Which ones are mine?"

"T-the ones on th-the ri-right."

"Iruka-sensei, are you alright?"

"Hai, Kakashi-sensei. I just wasn't expecting you to.."

"To show up on time?" Kakashi tried to supply helpfully to the obviously flustered chunnin.

Iruka scowled. _Stupid jounin, of course I didn't expect you to show up on time. But I'll be dammed if I'll ever tell you that! _Iruka closed his eyes and forced himself to gain control.

"No, Kakashi-sensei. You appeared directly behind me and startled me is all. I was in the middle of meditating before you arrived." Iruka opened his eyes and smiled sweetly at Kakashi. "Of course I expected you on time."

"You were meditating? May I ask why?"

_Damn that man….why does he have to question my actions? _"I find that if I meditate before I carry out my lesson plan that it helps me keep my patience in check. It benefits the children's learning experience this way as well." _Take that…._ Iruka mentally stuck his tongue out at Kakashi.

"I'll have to try that sometime. I might even have to teach that to my new students since I can't give them my regular patience training anymore… and speaking of my new students…. thank you for taking care of them out here for me." Kakashi's smiled under his mask. _So meticulous aren't we sensei? The children are in nice even groups and standing at attention, hell, he probably formed the groups based of the kids' ninjutsu element. He seriously needs to unwind…._

"Kakashi-sensei, are you ready to begin?" Iruka asked with just a hint of impatience in his voice. _Shit! Calm down! Stop letting him get to you like that! Kami, I hope he didn't pick up on that, because if he did, that entire lie you just made up is now totally worthless…_

Iruka kept staring at the man who was now walking away from him, making his way to the front of the children. _I don't think he was paying attention. Probably working on his introductory speech to the kids. _Iruka seemed to settle himself with this rationale. _I suppose it's time to hear the legendary Sharingan Kakashi tell us his tale and give us his thoughts on weaponry._

Iruka was almost right, except Kakashi was more or less repeating a mantra in his brain that was something like _"Act cool, don't screw up in front of the kids and Iruka. Act cool; don't screw up in front of the kids or Iruka…."_

_Why in the hell do I care if I screw up in front of Iruka? _The idea stuck him oddly. _He's just an academy teacher. But he's a damn good academy teacher…..I'm not intimidated…nope not me…..not in the least little bit…._

"Erm….Yo." Kakashi held his hand up in a short wave to the kids. "Ahhh…my name is Hatake Kakashi, and I will be filling in for Taki-sensei for awhile." Kakashi looked up from the kids and looked at Iruka, hoping for some sign of approval. Iruka just stared back with a look of total indifference. _Heh, he's gonna make me sweat this one out. Come on genius, just tell the kids the basics and then let them try to hit you with a few…it's not like they are actually going to make contact…_

"Umm…today's lesson is on how to throw kunai and shuriken. Uhh……I know some of you have thrown before, but I suppose I'll just start from the beginning." Kakashi looked down at the kids, and to his dismay, they were all staring right back. _Just keep talking genius…they are just kids after all…_

"Ok well um….it's basically all about the balance of the weapon you are throwing; you can throw just about anything and make it stick into your target as long as you can identify and feel the balance of the object. As ninja, you should be able to throw your weapons from any position, but for now we will just go into the cat stance and begin from there." Kakashi readied himself into the throwing position and gestured for the kids to do the same. "Ehh Iruka-sensei…could you help me make sure all the kids are standing correctly?"

"Of course, Kakashi-sensei." Iruka began to circle the small groups and adjusted a few students here and there. As he was positioning students, he kept his ears open and took in the older ninja's words. _He's not bad, _Iruka thought to himself, _he's actually taking this a lot more serious than I thought he would. Or maybe it's all just a big act on his part and he's just waiting for the opportune time to embarrass me in front of the kids. _Iruka frowned, _oh well, by the end of this little lesson I'll have gotten him back for making me look like shit in front of the other shinobi. But I'm still getting revenge on him for even putting Naruto, Saskue, and Sakura in that dangerous position to begin with…_

"Iruka-sensei….hello…." Kakashi was waving his hand in the air trying to get the chunnin's attention. The kids snickered as Iruka whipped his head around and gave Kakashi a 'deer in the headlights' look. _Umino, you're turning into a idiot when you get around him, stop thinking about him and concentrate….._

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Maaaaa, I think the kids are ready for target practice."

Iruka smiled at the other shinobi, while his inner-self was busy wringing his hand and cackling, _Muwhahahaha, let's do this….._

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"Are they starting yet?" Anko whispered to Raidou.

"I dunno, but it looks like the kids are in their stances," Raidou whispered back. "I will say this; Kakashi does have them ready to take the offensive. I hope he's not setting himself up to look like a porcupine."

"Pffft, please…I highly doubt those kids are going to do much damage. This is cake for Kakashi." said Anko.

_Those words can be so easily eaten, _Genma thought to himself after overhearing his two fellow shinobi. _Do I smell opportunity? Ahhh…I think I do. _Helooked around Raidou and gave Anko an innocent smile. "Say Anko…you willing to wager a little bet?"

Anko looked back at him. "What's the bet, and what are the terms?"

"The bet is that Kakashi doesn't last 30 minutes out there with those kids flinging all that shit at him, and if I win, you get to take over my spot in the mission room for a month" Genma turned back around and crossed his arms in front of his chest, "and of course if you win, you can have….whatever." He flicked his wrist out as if to say 'don't bother betting, cause you're gonna lose'.

Now normally, even though Anko may act like she's crazy, she is quite level-headed…in some situations. Anko never bets unless she knows it's a sure thing. It was silly anyways; Kakashi could hang on that long, at least 45 minutes. He is the legendary Sharingan Kakashi after all…..

And of course Genma HAD to do the wrist-flick thing…..noooooo…..Anko would never stoop to Genma's level and fall for something like….

"I bet he holds out for 45 minutes!" Anko spit out.

_Got her…heh. _Genma smiled, "And what is it that you want if you win?"

"Ummmmm, a months worth of dango…" Anko said, although that's not what she was hoping for.

"Jaaaa don't be silly. Make this one good. Dango is stupid."

"I don't know what to bet." Anko thought for a moment before her eyes wandered out onto the training field to where the kids, Kakashi and Iruka….

"I want Iruka-kun. For one night."

The entire ninja tree went into silence.

Genma looked out to where Anko was staring. He had inkling that she had it out for the young chunnin; it was just no one ever said anything. Partly out of the fear that Anko would have ripped their heads off and shoved it down their throats, and partly out of the other fear that if Iruka found out he would just go ape-shit.

All shinobi decided that neither outburst from either party seemed in their best interest, so it was technically classified as a taboo subject, and was forever prohibited from being verbalized….

Until today.

"Ok, Anko. The bet is on." Genma said…before realizing that he would have to be the one to tell Iruka of his little 'bet'. _Oh shit….Hatake…you'd better just fall over or something…cause Anko AND Iruka are gonna be kicking my ass….._

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Iruka explained the rules to the kids. "One group goes at a time. If Kakashi-sensei or I tell you to stop, you are to put down your weapons until you are instructed to do otherwise. Does everyone understand?"

"Hai, Iruka-sensei!"

"Good, Kakashi-sensei, are you good to go?" _Are you ready to be a ninja on a stick is more like it..._

"Hai, Iruka-sensei." Kakashi readied himself. "Begin!"

The first group of kids reared back and threw their weapons. Kakashi was already in the middle of making hand signs for teleportation before the kids even let go. He appeared on the other side of the battlefield by the time the weapons had reached his first position. _Maaaa, no sweat…_

"Second group go!" Iruka yelled.

The kids tried again. Kakashi, his hand signs already complete, was back on the other side of the field.

"Group three go!" Iruka yelled.

Kakashi went though the motions and was back on the opposite side once again, but there were already kunai and shuriken heading to his final destination.

_What the hell? _Kakashi fingered through another set of hand signs and teleported himself into the center of the field. Kunai and shuriken were heading towards him here as well. _Shit! I thought they were supposed to be taking turns? One group at a time or some shit!?!? _He teleported again and wound up beside one of the taijutsu training posts. He quickly ducked behind it as sharp, pointy objects flew into hand-carved stump. _What is going on?_

Iruka was doing a good job of getting the groups to take turns. In fact, he was doing such a good job that there weren't any breaks in between the groups. The kids were just really going at it. It was like the equivalent of a machine gun that dispensed kunai and shuriken. Only the machine gun had bad aim…REALLY bad aim.

Kakashi stayed behind the post as yet another round of pointy things came flying in his direction. _I'll hit the ground and crawl away from here. The grass should be enough coverage. That will give me enough time to formulate a plan…..and hopefully it goes better than what this is turning out to be like…._

Iruka saw a flash of silver disappear from behind the post and head duck down beneath the tall grass blades. _Oh no you don't you fucker…_ "Hanabi-chan! Now!"

"Hai sensei!" Hanabi stepped out form behind Iruka and slammed her hands together.

"_Byukugan!"_

The young girl swept her all-seeing eyes across the field. She easily saw the other teacher trying to sneak off to the left side of the field.

"He's over to the left Iruka-sensei."

"Are you sure?"

"Hai, sensei."

"Ok kids, since our other teacher is trying to be sneaky, we are going to have to rustle him out of the bushes. Wherever Hanabi-chan points, you throw. Understood?" Iruka couldn't help but smile as the kids got excited at the new game.

"Hai, Iruka-sensei!"

"Ok Hanabi-chan, you're up!"

"He's over there!" the Hyuuga girl pointed to the left and towards the ground.

A barrage of airborne kunai went in Kakashi's direction.

Even though Kakashi couldn't see the objects, he could feel them coming. He sprung up from the ground and whirled his body to the right. In doing so, he reached up and lifted his headband up to reveal the Sharingan. He turned around just in time to see another round come at him.

_Poof. _He was on the right. _Poof. _He was on the left. _Poof. _He was in the center. _Poof. _He back on the right. _Poof. _He went back to the center, but some of the kids in Iruka's class just so happened to guess at where he might pop up next. When he popped up, his body became riddled with kunai.

"Got em!" the kids yelled, only to be outdone by a large, _Pop!_ In Kakashi's place was a log that had been punctured instead.

"AWWWWW!" the kids moaned.

"He's over there!" Hanabi screamed and pointed back to where the training logs were at.

The kids began to throw their weapons again. Iruka occasionally went to one or two of the groups to adjust their fingers for a better throw. On the inside however, he was practically break-dancing…that is if shinobi could break-dance. _This is awesome, soooooooo awesome...everything is perfect! And Hanabi-chan has earned herself an A on the next ten pop quizzes, _he thought to himself as he watched her continually point out the copy-nin's whereabouts.

Which by the way, was REALLY beginning to piss Kakashi off.

_If I had known that he had a damn Byukugan user in his class I might have not agreed to this. _He popped back up on the right side of the field, kunai already soaring in that direction. _Poof. _He came back to the center and hit the ground. _They actually forced me to use my Sharingan, and I didn't think I'd have to resort to this. I don't know how long of this I can take. But I don't want to wuss out in front of the kids and Iruka. Can't give up, not yet…_

"He's over there!" Hanabi yelled and pointed.

_Shit, if I get out of this alive, I'm gonna have a little talk with that chunnin….._He looked up and saw the small cluster of trees at the end of the training field. _Maybe if I can make it to over there I might have some sort of coverage, well not a lot because of the Hyuuga girl, but maybe enough for me to get my bearings. _He dodged another set of flying shuriken and teleported to the left…but a little further back this time. _Ok, here I go…._

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The tree ninja were having the time of their life. This was the best entertainment they'd had since the time Gai, Genma, and Asuma decided that they were going to help the local chicken farmers and 'Relieve the Poor Souls of Their Youthful Feathers' as Gai put it.

Seven bottles of sake will make shinobi be more 'helpful' in certain situations, even though their help is sometimes not appreciated….or wanted….

They were mostly bored, and Genma had a bet with Asuma that Gai wouldn't do it….

Genma was more trouble than what he was worth sometimes….

And said ninja was beginning to panic. His thirty minutes were up and now they were working towards Anko's forty-five. _Come on, if he hangs of for another 20 minutes I'm out in the clear, neither me nor Anko will win. And I won't have to deal with a pissy Iruka…._

"Damn, not a scratch on him," Tenzo whispered. "Although watching these kids go nuts on him like this totally funny."

"Yeah, that Hyuuga girl is really working him over." Asuma pointed out.

"Wow, did you see that?" Kotetsu pointed out between the branches. "I think one of the kids got him!"

"No way!" Kurenai tried to focus on Kakashi, but he was just moving too fast. "What makes you say that?"

"He's looks like he's slowing down for one," Raidou pointed out.

"Yeah and look, he's holding his side, I think…" Izumo squinted out towards Kakashi's position.

"Well he's closer in view than he has been since he's started this thing. Maybe we'll be able to tell here in a few minutes." Ebisu commented.

The rest of the ninja nodded their heads in agreement. Except for Shikamaru, who was actively trying to find route to escape. His eyes turned back to Kakashi's position in front of him. _Not good…oh man…this is gonna be REALLY troublesome…._

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_Poof. _Further back and to the left. _Poof. _Further back and to the right. _Poof_. Back again to the left. _Almost there, I want there to be some confusion on which tree I get in. If not, these damn kids are gonna do me inon my first day. _He pivoted around and dropped to the ground.

"He's over there! On the ground!" Hanabi-chan pointed.

_Maaaaa, this is such bullshit…_Kakashi quickly rolled up underneath a small bush, only to be taken by surprise by one of the groups of kids that had maneuvered around to the side. A series of 'thwacks' and a muffled 'gmmmph' could be heard from below the bush. Kakashi quickly teleported from beneath the bush to the other side of the field again. _Gah, I can't believe it. The little shits got me. _He started pulling out the different razor-sharp objects that were embedded into his side. He could only pull out a few before he had to teleport once again. _At least I'm almost to my spot…..almost there…C'mon Hatake….don't give up now…._

Iruka was subtly herding the kids to the right side of the field. He didn't want Kakashi getting out of their throwing range. _I think the fourth group got him_ _while he was next to that bush. Hehe…those are gonna leave some interesting marks…And where is he heading? He's almost at the end of the training field, and there's no way he'd head for the forest. _Iruka suddenly looked up and an awful thought crossed his mind. _He wouldn't….wait he doesn't know…_

Kakashi disappeared once again and little Hanabi was straining her eyes, desperately searching for the older sensei.

She finally caught him up in a tree. She screamed and pointed "He's over", her brain finally caught up with her eyes, " ….um…there?!?"

Iruka spun around to see what was wrong with Hanabi-chan. She was pointing, that's for sure, but she was also slack-jawed, head tilted to the side, her left eye wide open with the other in a half-squint. The left eye was twitching slightly. Iruka began to stifle a giggle when he heard a scream.

Actually…. It was more like multiple screams.

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Now when Kakashi finally decided to teleport into his 'destination', he had no idea that the tree branch that he landed on could be so soft.

And uneven. And heavily scarred.

And take on the life-like appearance of Morino Ibiki.

_Ohhhhhhhh Kami, what do we have here?_ Kakashi looked at Ibiki from this new up-close-and-personal perspective. He suddenly looked around and saw, well, practically the better half of the Kohona ninja perched in his 'well-thought-out' hiding spot. _Heh, well, aren't we truly the ninjas from the 'Hidden Leaf, _Kakashi thought amusingly to himself. _Well, this could go two ways, either I lose my cool and do 'fearsome Kakashi' and have everyone run away, or, I could do something that no one would expect….something slightly crazier than normal…_

Ibiki saw the Kakashi's craziness stir in his good eye. He absolutely refused to look into the one that contained the Sharingan. He began to sweat and he started to pull at the collar of his shirt.

Kakashi sat fully down in Ibiki's lap and threw his arms around his neck. "Ibiki! I never knew you cared!" _Yeah, that should do the trick…_

At that same time everyone heard "He's over….um…. there?"

Every ninja in that tree mentally screamed "_OH SHIT!" _and proceeded to make hand signs for various teleportation jutsus.

Of course there was one slight problem. It does take a small amount of elbow room to make proper hand signs, and with more than 60 ninja in a medium sized oak tree…leaves approximately zero room for any diverse elbow movements. Zero mobility plus zero fluid hand signs equals zero teleporting to same locations.

Kakashi reasoned that his class of first years could have easily figured that out...

The 'wooshing' sound became all too apparent for the tree ninja as the kunai and shuriken shot through the air and into the leaves and branches of the tree. Suddenly there was a erratic burst of unorthodox manuevers to plummet out of the tree.

"Get off!!"

"Owwww move outta the way!"

"Shit! Gyaaaah!"

"Just jump for Kami's sake!"

Accompanying the startled cries of pain and numerous sharp objects making a 'thunk' into the tree….there were many 'oomphs' that followed. Since many couldn't jump because of the other ninja pushing and shoving and unsuccessfully jutsuing out of the tree…..others just opted to just fall out of the tree and pray that there was a blanket of leaves on the ground to cushion their abrupt stop.

The children stopped their attempts to take off Kakashi's appendages long enough to stare and gawk at the scene in front of them. It was raining kunai, shuriken, leaves, branches, and of course...ninja. Many of the kids started to laugh, while other began to play a new game, 'Who Can Impale a Random Shinobi'.

Between the chaos of the tree, kids, and yelping shinobi that were sprinting away from the tree as if it were Gai-sensei in a speedo……. Iruka just totally lost it.

He couldn't stop laughing. He was bent over double, choking on his own tears from laughing so hard. He sat back up, gulping down deeps breaths of air, trying to come back to his senses. Stomach muscles cramped, vision blurred, cheeks pinched, throat being poked…..

Wait…

Iruka tried to shift his eyes to see who was behind him. But he had a bad feeling that he already knew who the owner of the kunai that happened to be mere millimeters away from his jugular.

"Maaaaa, Iruka-sensei….. I think you can call off the sweet innocent children now…."


	5. Shadow Clones Can be Naughty Too

A/N: Whoa! thanks for all the awesome reviews! Sorry it's taking so long for me to put out chapters, and this one is still a little rushed, and not beta-ed (Spelling?)

For those of you that are wondering, this is probably going to be a decently long fic. Don;t get me wrong, I like one-shots, but I really like a good storyline. And yes...Kakashi and Iruka will be making out in this fic...eventually...remember patience is a virtue...

And dammit if someone wants to beta...feel free to tackle me...

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Naruto, but I will stay up until 2 am writing fan fiction about them...

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"Ahhhh! We're back! Look at the Hokage tower my beautiful students! Have you not missed this stunning and rustic dwelling that our youthful Hokage resides in? It stands here in a tribute to Kohona's youth! Breathe it in my beloved students; and be grateful that we are home!" Gai-sensei proclaimed in an ear-splitting 90 decibel loud manner.

The 'beloved and beautiful' students stared at their sensei. If someone were to walk by, they would have thought they saw three students looking at their sensei with unwavering attention.

Actually it wasn't that far from the truth…..they were looking at their sensei, although two of the students had more of a pained, 'Stab Me with a Kunai Now' expression on their faces, while the third was sporting the 'unwavering attention' look.

"We were only gone for two days…." said Neji.

"And all we did was help an sick old man take care of his rice paddies until he felt he could do it well enough on his own….." Tenten added.

"Gai- sensei! I've missed our home! You are sooooooooo insightful!" Lee wailed, as tears formed in his eyes.

Neji and Tenten mentally groaned. Both teens thought that their other two teammates were too overly emotional over the most trivial of things, and the attempts to persuade them into agreeing with their teacher's insane ramblings was just incredibly too much drama for them to handle. Tenten was under the impression that she was being punished for something she had done in a past life. Neji was seriously reconsidering the whole 'destiny' thing he had been known to carry on about. He was almost convinced that he was just irrevocably unlucky.

"Lee you are an idiot…" Neji mumbled. Tenten nodded her head vigorously in agreement.

"Students! We are not quite done yet! We must turn in our mission report in an opportune, but yet youthful manner! Tsunade-sama awaits our vibrant arrival! Come! Let's get goi-" Gai stopped his inane ranting due to a pair of binoculars that had come hurtling out of the sky and successfully beaning him on top of his head. He blinked in surprise before he collapsed at his students' feet.

Of course that was enough to send Lee completely over the edge. "Gaiiiiiiiii-seeeeeeeeeeenseiiiiiiiiiii," he screamed with tears running down his face, "Senseiiiiiiii! Senseiiiiiiiiiii! Are you ok? Speak to meeeeeeeeeeee!"

Neji and Teneten were beside themselves with disbelief. There was just no way that they could be this blessed to escape having to listen to both of the spandex-clad ninjas drone on to Tsunade about a boring mission.

Not to mention that they got to see Gai get his butt get handed to him by an inanimate object. The morning was turning out to be much better than they expected.

Neji turned his head up to the sky. _Maybe Kami has finally heard enough of his 'Youthful' speeches….but why would he decide to knock him out with a pair of binoculars?…hmmmmm….maybe it is part of Gai-sensei's destiny not to turn in the mission report….Hn, I would have chosen something bigger to knock the beast out with though…_

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Tsunade hadn't meant for the binoculars to fall off the railing. It was that she was just laughing so hard from watching her 'elite' ninja getting their body parts skewered by a bunch of school kids with bad aim, that she accidentally elbowed them off their resting spot. She had been watching from the large balcony that was at the top of the Hokage tower, and was delighted to at least have caught some of the action. She was even more grateful that her shinobi were just terrible at keeping things to themselves when the information wasn't classified.

Of course, the mission room was buzzing practically all yesterday afternoon and well into the night about Kakashi's lesson plan for this morning, and the Hokage being who she was…well…. the information just happened to slip out of someone's mouth. Actually if you put a senbon-sucking jounin in a compromising chokehold for long enough, you'd be surprised what kind of information can 'slip' out. Inevitably, he spilled the beans, along with other interesting information….she was going to have to pay attention to Gai-sensei's butt next time he came in her office…there was just no way that the man could run around commando in spandex….think about the heat rashes….

Although there was a lot of paperwork to be done, she decided that there was just no way could she miss this, even if it meant watching from afar. Plus, with Shizune being her slave driver, she hardly got to leave the office anymore. So before the event started, she was a little miffed that she couldn't make a guest appearance. The Hatake brat was always giving her some sort of grief, and to miss a chance to watch him run from mini-brats up close was really a let down.

_Bah, I wish I could have been there, with a camcorder. Iruka has earned himself a week's vacation from the mission room for that little stunt. _Tsunade was still chuckling by the time she had made back inside to her desk. _Well, Kakashi is eventually going to figure all this out, or I'm going to have seriously consider having his IQ tests reevaluated. And speaking of reevaluations…._

"Shizune! Put a bulletin up in the mission room stating that all available shinobi of chunnin and jounin level are required to be at testing room 115 next Thursday. There is going to be an official tutorial and instruction on the advantages and disadvantages of treetop combat and how to gain the most out of a ninja's confined space. Aldo add on there that taking notes will be a requirement and there will be an exam at the end of the lesson." said Tsunade. It was one thing for her ninja to act foolish while they were off duty, but there was just something about that whole scene that was just disturbing.

Maybe it was the fact that if any other county's ninja had seen that little episode out on the training field, they would have laughed her straight out of Fire Country.

She decided that she just couldn't have that….

"Oh, and Shizune, bring Nara Shikamaru in as well," Tsunade added "I'm going to be in need of an instructor for that class, and I think he would be suitable for the job…"

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Kakashi was still perched on Ibiki's lap when he heard the kunai and shuriken come whizzing through the tree leaves. _Heh, I'm on Ibiki's lap,… leering...at him…glad I have my Sharingan uncovered…the look on his face is priceless…_He felt himself being roughly shoved off the other ninja's lap and he fell onto the branch below, successfully knock off the other ninja that were already there

After Kakashi had teleported out of the tree and into the forest's edge, he dove behind a bush to assess his wounds. He still had kunai and shuriken sticking out of him from when the kids had ambushed him. _Heh…not bad. Although, I imagine that they had help from Iruka. _He began to pull out the weapons gingerly from his body. _Some of these went in deep; I might need a few stitches. _He ran his hands carefully over his body, making sure that he had all the ninja cutlery removed. _Ok, think that's a—OWWWW! _Kakashi tried to look over his shoulder to see where his hand felt the kunai handle sticking out. Unfortunately for him, he just couldn't look at his own butt. The kunai in question was embedded deep into his left butt cheek. _Kami…how in the hell am I going to explain that scar and keep my dignity at the same time….and this is really going to hurt. I'll have to teach class standing up for the next couple of days. Ok, on the count of three…_He grasped the handle and tried not to clench his muscles, which was practically impossible. He grimaced from the pain as he began to count down. _One….two…._

"Gyaaaarrrahhh!" Kakashi yanked out the knife and looked at it. It was covered in blood and he began to feel the pain creep from butt into the back of his leg from the wound. _I think that one is the deepest of all…..why didn't I feel it after it hit me? Probably the adrenaline rush…. Heh…I imagine I made it worse when I sat on Ibiki's lap. _He smiled to himself. _Too bad I didn't see him get out of the tree…._

_Hmmm, all this happened too quickly… and why was everyone watching us to begin with? Must have been another bet….And more than likely Genma's sorry ass has something to do with this...I did happen to see him fall quite ungraciously out if the tree before I teleported out…that makes me feel a little better I suppose. _

Kakashi stole a quick glance out onto the training field. The kids were looking at Iruka. _I hope he's telling them to stop. _He felt a sharp pain in his temple closest to the Sharingan. _I can't keep this up. _As he watched the kids he noticed that Iruka was awfully red in the face….

In fact the poor guy looked like he was going to soil himself right there in front of the kids.

Kakashi rushed out form behind the bush to get a better view of what was going on. He happened to catch a glint of steel radiating from the chunnin's neck. _What the hell is going on?!? Someone's has Iruka at knifepoint…not good! _Kakashi snuck back into the grove of trees on the training field and got a closer inspection of Iruka's captor.

_Oh shit. _Kakashi's eyes flew open in shock. He started to panic as soon as he made out the other person. _That's not me…but Iruka and the kids think it is….oh man…way to go Hatake. You've totally screwed up everything on your first day. Iruka and the kids will never trust me now. When in the hell did I summon up a kage bunshin? I don't remember doing it!...Maybe..maybe it was when I was in the tree? No…I didn't have time…wait…_Kakashi paused in his train of thought. _That couldn't be me….that clone looks too…neat and clean for it to be mine…._

Kakashi stared at what he assumed was an imposter. _Who in the hell is that?_

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"Ka-ka-kashi-sen-sensei….please, let's um…discuss this…" Iruka sputtered.

"Yes, let's do discuss this." Kakashi said as he pulled the man up to his feet while still having him at knifepoint. "And to think we will have ALL night to discuss all sorts of things."

"Erm…all night? Wha-what are y-you talking a-about…"

"Don't squirm so much Iruka," Kakashi pressed his whole body against Iruka smaller frame. "Don't worry, I'll take it easy on you…" he breathed huskily into his ear.

"Ka-ka-kashi- sen-sensei…the kids are watching…please let go…" Iruka begged. _What, what have I done?! I pushed him beyond insanity….I didn't know he would go to this extreme. He's gonna kill me, but not before he does…whatever else he's going to do to me…Kami…there's too much heat radiating off of his body…I can feel it…too much, I'm gonna pass out if he doesn't let go…._ Iruka's breathing hitched as the hand on his waist pulled him even closer. Kakashi's hips were almost grinding a hole into the other man's uniform pants. _Too close….can't breathe ….Kami, he smells like….something….sweet maybe? Ehhh, it doesn't matter….still can't breathe….Kami…_

The kids stood gaping at the scene of their two teachers in what someone could call an 'intimate' position. Some of them began to shift their eyes uneasily to one another, trying to decide if they should run away or wait for their teachers to get done with…well…with whatever they were doing. Some of the younger ones look slightly scared, Kakashi looked positively terrifying with one hand grasping Iruka's waist while the other held a razor-sharp kunai to the other sensei's throat.

"Kakashi-sensei….are…are you going to hurt Iruka-sensei?" Konohamaru asked tentatively.

"I'd never hurt Iruka-sensei, nor any one of my students or my teammates." said a voice behind them.

The children turned to find another Kakashi standing behind them, except this one looked a bit rumpled.

And tired, sore, bleeding, and sweaty.

Not to mention slightly confused.

Iruka shared Kakashi's facial expression. _Is this a kage bunshin? _He looked at the Kakashi standing before him. _Wow, he looks…like shit…_ Iruka noticed that he had his Sharingan uncovered and it was spinning wildly inside the eye socket. Iruka averted his gaze and attempted to look behind him at his current captor. He couldn't see much, but he could tell that this Kakashi had the red eye covered up by his headband. _Well so much for trying to tell them apart….but shouldn't all of Kakashi's clones look like him….. including the messy state of his clothes?_

Kakashi made a small, insignificant movement with his right arm. Iruka barely registered the fact that Kakashi had thrown a kunai at the copy of himself. _That…that was too fast… _

He heard the kunai make contact as a 'poof' noise sounded behind him. Iruka still felt a presence behind him, but the kunai at his throat was no longer there. For that he was grateful, but that presence still had a firm hold of his hips. The kids' eyes began to widen in surprise and giggling erupted from the bunch. One of them went as far as to yell out "Awww Iruka-sensei has a girlfriend!"

_WHAT?!?!?!?! _Iruka spun around and found himself way too close to the kunochi's grinning face.

"ANKO!?!?!"

Anko just grinned evilly. "Hiya, Iruka-kun."

"Erm..maybe me and the kids should leave you two lovebirds alone.." said Kakashi as he started to back away from the couple.

"No one's going ANYWHERE until I get some answers!" Iruka bellowed. He grabbed Anko's wandering hands and shoved them away.

Kakashi and the kids froze to their spots. _A pissed off Iruka is probably worse than a pissed off Tsunade…_ Kakashi rationalized. _Besides, I think some of this may be useful to me…. Cause I think I'm missing out on some information_. He watched Anko and Iruka carefully, especially Iruka, since the man was beyond being pissed. _No wonder the kids don't give him much trouble….Kami…is it healthy for a person's skin to turn that red? _

"Spill it Anko…what the heck do you think you are doing?" Iruka said furiously.

"Jaaa, just claiming my prize is all. Don't worry my Iruka-kun," Anko licked her lips. "You'll be safe with me."

Iruka just looked at her…he was totally at a loss for words. He heard Kakashi make some sort of snorting noise behind him. _Great, he's just laughing this up,… figures._

_I hope Iruka doesn't plan on actually going home with Anko….I doubt there will be anything left of the man by the time she gets through with him…. _Kakashi thought to himself. His snort wasn't meant to mock Iruka, he was just disagreeing with Anko's 'you'll be safe with me' statement. _I've seen her in the local bar picking up men, and it not pretty…Kami…I'm just glad she's not after me…_

"Your prize? What exactly is your prize?" Iruka asked.

"You of course. Genma bet me that Kakashi wouldn't hold out for 30 minutes against the kids and I bet that he would hold out for a total of 45 minutes." She tapped on her watch. "And I won. I get the entire night with you as my prize."

Iruka gulped. _I'm going to KILL Genma. I'll shove that senbon somewhere he won't be able to reach! Thanks to him, Anko is going to drag me to her house and do…gahhh I dunno! _Iruka shuddered at the thought. _What am I going to do? And of course that stupid jounin is going to go back and tell everyone what happened…why did she have to pull this shit in front of Kakashi?!?! He's never going to let me live this down…._

"Maaa, he's not going anywhere with you."Kakashi spoke up.

"HUH?" Iruka and Anko both turned around to look at the other shinobi.

Kakashi turned back to the kids, who were really starting to become uncomfortable with the entire situation. "My class can take the rest of the day off. We'll start fresh again in the morning." He turned to look at Iruka. "Do you mind if your kids take the rest of the day off as well? I know it's not normal to let them go this early…but considering the circumstances…" Iruka just looked at him and blinked. Kakashi just shrugged and continued, "I'll just take that as a yes. Kids go on home, everyone will return tomorrow …on time of course…"

The kids wasted no time in running away from the three shinobi…they figured that if there were any survivors, they assumed they would find out tomorrow morning.

Kakashi turned back around and looked at Anko. "You technically stopped the lesson when you decided to take Iruka-sensei hostage. If you hadn't, the kids would still be hunting me down and chasing me all over the training field. Since you interfered, you and Genma, theoretically, both lose."

"Kakashi, stay out of this. I won and I'm taking Iruka-kun with me." Anko made a move to grab the chunnin, but wound up with a handful of jounin instead. Kakashi had positioned himself in front of Iruka in a blink of an eye.

Anko gulped and let go of Kakashi's vest. She could obviously tell that the jounin was serious. But still, she wasn't giving up without a fight.

"Jaaa, Kakashi…come on. Since Iruka has the rest of the day off…thanks to you by the way…he can spend it like he wants too…with me…"

"Actually he's going to be spending the rest of the day with me, if you don't mind. I have a few injuries that he needs to help me attend to, not to mention I need some assistance with some of my lesson plans." Kakashi replied.

"Are you sure you want him helping you?" Anko looked at him with a devious grin. "Cause he is the reason why you look like shit warmed over at the moment."

"That may be true, but I think it's more due to my lack of basic ninja training that I've fallen away from practicing. So I'm not totally blaming Iruka-sensei." Kakashi shot back.

Anko just looked at the Copy-Nin. She wanted to push this further, but Kakashi was looking irate, and he still hadn't covered his Sharingan back up. _He means business. Dammit, guess I'll just have to take my frustration out on someone else…..like Genma…._

"Fine." Anko turned to give Iruka one last lustful look. "Heh, too bad Kakashi had to be the party pooper. You and I would have had a night to remember, Ruka-kun." With that, she made the hand signs for a teleportation jutsu and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Iruka just stood there still in shock. _Did he just save me from Anko? I'm dreaming…._

"Maaa, at least she's gone now." Kakashi turned around and locked his eyes on Iruka's. "I think someone has a little explaining to do, 'Ruka-kun'."

Iruka swallowed thickly. "Ha-hai, Kakashi-sensei." he said weakly. _No this isn't a dream….this is a nightmare….._


	6. The Creed and Exam Room Escapades

A/N: Holy hell...you guys and your reviews...it totally floors me that everyone is enjoying this. You are all so awesome!

A/N 2: I had to take this chapter down this morning because I found a few serious errors with it. Apparently, doesn't transfer every word from a document when you go to upload it(found that out this morning), so I just had to go back and adjust some things. Of course if I would take care of things like this at a decent hour (not at 2 am) I might have caught more than what I did...but anyways...

Disclamer: I still don't own Naruto...If I did ...I'd so be pimping out Kakashi and Iruka to fan girls so I wouldn't have to work...

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Kakashi stared at the chunnin for a moment, trying to read his facial expression. _I think he's still in shock over the whole Anko thing….or maybe it's that everything that has happened today is overwhelming him…….Although… he's staring at me for some odd reason….actually…. he's staring at my…oh shit…. _Kakashi tugged down his forehead protector_. Heh…ooops…forgot about my eye…._ "Neh, Iruka-sensei…" Kakashi reached out and shook the other shinobi's shoulder gently. "Snap out of it."

Iruka just swayed back and forth for a few moments before his brain decided to start working again. _What….what just happened? Anko….Anko was here…trying to….trying to 'violate' me…in front of small impressionable children. Why….why did she stop? _His eyes focused in on Kakashi, causing him to blink several times. _Kakashi. What did he do…wait…he made Anko leave. No...Something else…dizzy…why am I so dizzy? I think I need to lie down or something. I need to get …get away. _Iruka flicked his eyes to where Kakashi had a hold of him by his shoulder. _Oh shit…well, so much for escaping….he's going to kill me…maybe I'll get lucky and Naruto will avenge my death…probably hurl cups of instant ramen at his head….yeah… death by ramen………_

"Iruka-sensei, can you hear me?" Kakashi asked tentatively. Iruka stopped blinking and tried to focus on the man in front of him. "You were staring into my Sharingan. I'd have figured just by how the news and rumors fly around this village that you would already know not to stare too hard into my eye by now."

"Huh?" Iruka shifted his eyes back to the jounin's face. _Was I staring into it?_ Iruka felt himself sober up from the Sharingan exposure."I…I'm sorry Kakashi-sensei…."

"For what? For staring into my eye? Heh, you're a funny one…'Ruka-kun'….."

Iruka groaned loudly at the pet name that Anko had so unceremoniously picked out for him earlier. _I'm never going to get over that…I feel 'dirty'…_"Don't call me that….please…I'm already emotionally scarred from her just being that….close…to me."

"Heh, I'm only teasing." Kakashi eyed him warily. "If I let go of your shoulder, will you be able to keep your balance?"

"Hai."

Kakashi released him, but kept a good eye on the chunnin. He didn't want to be responsible for having to drag Iruka to the hospital from a head injury that he may be able to prevent if Iruka chose to lose consciousness. _I need to keep him talking for now. _Kakashi's eye twitched a little. _Hmm, and I have just the subject. I'm curious as to why I had an audience. I suppose now is as good of a time as any to ask him about this._

"So, Iruka-sensei." Kakashi crossed his arms in front of his chest. "May I ask why there just so happened to be a tree full of shinobi here today?"

Iruka gulped nervously. _Well, shit…ok …what are my options…_ the thought of him telling the truth was always an alternative. _I set you up because you are a jackass who I am furious with, and I told Anko to tell everyone because I wanted them all to see you humiliated and look like a human dartboard._ Iruka mentally kicked himself._ Hmmm…..He's not going to take that well….shit…ok Iruka, are you gonna cave in and tell him? Or are you going to keep on playing this out?_ Iruka's inner prankster was goading him even further._ Come on Umino…don't go down without a fight._

Iruka, like all other die-hard troublemakers, lived by 'The Prankster's Creed'. The credo was made up of just three simple rules that all troublemakers abided by when they happened to get caught.

Rule number one: Act as stupid as possible.

"Erm …huh?" Iruka gave him a confused look.

"I'm talking about what happened here today, not so much the shuriken practice, but the 'other' events. Someone obviously told them, and I'd like to know who."

Iruka continued to give him the 'dazed and confused' look. Kakashi immediately recognized it and associated it back to whenever he would attempt to teach Naruto about shinobi strategy. The boy always gave Kakashi the same 'duh-like' expression. _Well I see where Naruto gets it from at least. _

"Iruka-sensei, now come on." Kakashi continued, "You don't seem to be the type that would run around and purposely spread gossip, especially over some silly little weapons lesson."

Rule number two: If someone is making assumptions about the situation in a way that makes you look innocent….milk it for all it's worth.

Iruka immediately twisted his face into a false, shameful look, averting his vision to his sandals. "No, no. I just don't give out information like that….." Iruka said. _Look like the victim…_Iruka forced his eyes to open wide and looked back up at Kakashi with his lip shoved out in a semi-pout. "I mean…me and the guys working the mission room were just discussing the whole philosophy on how we should be instructing weaponry and there were other people there, but I didn't think they heard us. I mentioned to Izumo and Kotesu that you were going to be helping me, but they'd never say anything to anyone…and I don't know for sure who overheard…"

"Well, I have a pretty good idea who it could have been, and I'm beginning to think that it doesn't matter anymore as to who said what, besides I know that the other jounin and chunnin took this as an opportunity to see a show." Kakashi saw the poor look on the chunnin's face. _Wow, he really feels bad…._ "I know how ninja can be when they are bored. Of course, for them to have hid off in the tree like that and to get you to cooperate, that would be a whole other challenge….wouldn't it?" Kakashi watched Iruka duck his head down. He looked like a puppy that had be left out in the rain...except that he was all dry and Kakashi was pretty sure that puppies didn't quite quiver their lips when they pouted… _Dammit Hatake…stay focused..._ "Did someone kind of….perhaps…'talk' you into doing this…maybe with other intentions…you know…'underneath the underneath'. Cause you know, it's not everyday that Genma makes silly little bets with Anko…especially when it is pertaining to another shinobi's…hmm…how can I say this….erm….'nookie'?"

'_NOOKIE'?!?!?!?! _Iruka's eyes flew open as red-hot fury began to boil within his veins. He wasn't mad at Kakashi's choice of words…maybe a tad embarrassed, but that was quickly overrun by the sudden urge to castrate Genma. _I forgot about that, ooohhhhhh you son of a bitch. _A person could almost hear Iruka's brain going into overdrive, the wheels grinding and spinning from formulating a certain senbon-sucking shinobi's horrendous punishment._ I might as well get revenge on Genma for THAT while I'm at it…_

It helps when the person who catches you in a prank to conjure up someone else to be a scapegoat for your own childishness.

Rule number three: Blame it on someone else and lie like hell.

"Well Genma had …erm…." Iruka fought with his inner-self for a moment, trying to control his rage and quickly went back to being the 'innocent' victim. "Genma was kind of pushy…."

"Knowing Genma…he probably had some sort of incriminating evidence on you possibly? Or something that you deem as 'incriminating'?" Kakashi asked. _There can't be something that atrocious on Umino Iruka. Maybe some pictures of him being harassed by Naruto or something silly like that…nothing earth-shattering that's for sure. But it would have had to be in the form of some type of blackmail, especially if Genma is involved…_

_Kami, make up something…_Iruka thought frantically for a moment. _Sorry Hanabi-chan…but I need to use you again…_ "Well see, I have a certain student in my class that may have a small crush on me, the little Hyuuga girl, and Genma-san kind of found a small love letter directed towards me…." _You're horrible Umino…but this will save you from getting killed._

_Figures, a puppy-love note from a student. _Kakashi almost laughed out loud. _No wonder the girl was so frantic in trying to locate me, probably felt the need to make her 'Ruka-sensei' happy. _Kakashi sighed, _Genma is such a bastard…I'll deal with him later….when Anko is though with him…I don't think I want to interrupt that… _"Well, you're telling me that you were blackmailed then?"

_Well technically YOU and the one telling ME that I was…_See rule number 2. "Hai. Kakashi-sensei. Please forgive me…."

Kakashi's eye crinkled up, obviously smiling politely. "Maaaa, no worries sensei. Did you happen to get the love letter back from him? Cause if you didn't I'd be more than happy to…"

"No no! He gave it back. I destroyed it as soon as I had it in my possession." Iruka breathed a sigh of relief. _Nyaaaah! I'm not in troooooouuubleeeeee. I'm not in troooouuubleeeee…Although, I know someone who is……_

"Well good." Kakashi looked at his feet for a moment shifting his stance. Iruka stared back at the man. _Shit, there's something else……_ Iruka thought. _Is he fidgeting? _

"Kakashi-sensei? Is there something else that is bothering you?"

"Well," Kakashi began to rub the back of his head out of nervousness as he looked back at Iruka. "I ...erm... could use some help tending to my wounds. My apartment is on the other side of town, and by the time I get there, the wounds may rip open more than what they already are…" Kakashi looked back down at his sandals again. "Is…is there by chance a medical room in the school? Some of these cuts really need attention…"

"Of course we have a medical room, and a medical ninja on duty at all times. It's down the hall and to the left of our classrooms. It should be pretty easy to find, has a big sign on the door and everything." Iruka said, obviously not interested in helping Kakashi out anymore than what he going to be forced to.

_Well, I guess this is what I deserve for being ambushed by wanna-be ninjas… _"Eh, ok. I guess I'll just make my way over there then." Kakashi turned and took a step towards the school. His left butt cheek twisted in pain, the nerves lighting on fire all the way from his ass down to his calf. He let out a soft, moaning sound and proceeded to limp toward the medic station.

Iruka had already turned around and was picking up scattered kunai and shuriken when he heard the man's cry from pain. Iruka turned and watched Kakashi slowly make his way across the training field. He noticed that there was a lot of blood coming from Kakashi's left side and was running down his pants leg, already soaking all the way through the outside of the clothing. Iruka felt a twinge of guilt cramping up in his stomach. _Maybe I should at least make sure he makes it inside the school…He really looks like he's in pain. _Iruka eyes went from Kakashi's limping form to the kunai he was holding in his hands. _Dammit…_ Iruka dropped the weapons and chased after the jounin.

"Kakashi-sensei! Stop! Here…let me help you…"

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By the time Kakashi and Iruka made it inside the school, Kakashi was barely putting any pressure on his left side. _Kami, who knew a kunai to the ass would hurt this much?_ Kakashi thought bitterly as they made it past his and Iruka's classrooms.

"Just a little further Kakashi-sensei, we're almost there." Iruka said in a clam voice. When he caught up to Kakashi out on the training field and let the man lean on his shoulder to help support the jounin's weight, he could feel Kakashi's chakra going haywire. Iruka had honestly begun to worry then. _I only meant for him to get some small knicks and cuts…not gaping stab wounds that are going to require stitches…_

"Hanaka-san! Come quickly! It's an emergency!" Iruka yelled as he and Kakashi staggered into the medic's office. "Hanaka-san! Please!"

Silence was the only reply Iruka could get. "Hanaka-san?" Iruka stopped to untangle himself form the jounin's arm. "Here, lean against the wall and don't move. She may be down in one of the examination rooms. I'll go check real quick." Iruka positioned the man against the wall and stole a quick glance at the man's face. Even though Kakashi was trying to suck it up the best he could, Iruka could tell that he was hurting. "Are you going to be alright?"

"Hai, I've come back from S-class missions with wounds that would make your stomach turn and I've survived. This is nothing. I just think one of the wounds may have severed a few nerves is all. More painful than I expected." Kakashi said. "Go find the medic, I'm not going anywhere fast."

Iruka nodded, "I'll be quick." With that he took off down the medic station's hallway, peering into each examination rooms as he went. _Dammit, where is she…._ "Hanaka-san? Are you in here?" Iruka called out the medic's name repeatedly. "Hanaka-san?!"

"Maaaa, Iruka-sensei. I don't think she's on the premises." Kakashi called out form down the hall. Iruka turned and made his way back to the reception desk.

"What makes you say that?"

"The note on the desk would be my first guess…" Kakashi pointed to the piece of paper laid neatly in the center of the desk. It said "**Out on emergency call, be back in an hour.**"

_Great…just great. Now what are we going to do?_ Iruka looked thoughtfully at one of the examination rooms. "Kakashi-sensei, let's get you into one of these rooms. I suppose I can treat the cuts while she's out."

Kakashi shifted nervously away from the wall. "Erm…tell you what sensei. Go find me some equipment for sutures and I'll do as much as I can to myself. That way you won't have to do it." _Cause I really don't want you to see the condition of my ass right now…_

"Kakashi-sensei, be reasonable. I can handle it. Now go get in exam room number 1." Iruka grabbed the man and steered him into the room. "I'll be right back. Just take off whatever clothing that is covering the wounds and we'll start from there."

Iruka ran to the big medical cabinet that stood at the end of the hallway. _Ok let's see…_he began to rummage though the bandages and antiseptics, _Gauze, wound cream, ahh here we go, _Iruka pulled out a kit designed to take care of severe wounds. _Local anesthetic, two needles, and suture wire. This should work. _Iruka gathered the items into his arms and ran back down the hallway.

"Kakashi-sensei! I think we have everything we're gonna need…" Iruka stopped in mid-sentence as his eyes took in the jounin's physique. He never imagined that a person could be that covered with such a variety of scars. They showed up as white lines. Some thick, some thin, some jagged, some straight, but all of them had one thing in common, wherein they all had obviously caused the man some sort of discomfort at whatever time he had received them. Iruka winced at the sight of the new set of cuts that he knew would eventually blend in with the rest of the scars that littered the other man's skin.

"It's not that bad, Iruka-sensei. Here, let me do this." Kakashi made a grab for the supplies that Iruka held in his arms. The chunnin deftly spun away from the other's hand and positioned himself in front of Kakashi.

"No, I said I would do this. Besides, my class did some of this damage anyways." Iruka grabbed a stool that was in the corner of the room and got comfortable. He began to prepare Kakashi's wounds for closure, dabbing the iodine mixture around the open cuts. Kakashi began to tense up when he watched Iruka prepare the local anesthetic needle. Iruka saw the other man's muscles twitch beneath the skin. "I take it that you don't like needles." Iruka commented.

"No I don't. I can handle all sorts of sharp objects piercing my skin, even senbon, but there's something about injection needles that just makes my skin crawl." Kakashi said.

"It's ok, I don't like them either." Iruka glanced up at the other man before he positioned the rather large needle over one of the deep slashes. _Just keep him talking, maybe that will help. _"So um…Kakashi-sensei, Why exactly are you here to begin with?" Iruka asked.

"Suffering from short-term memory loss sensei? If I'm not mistaken, our brats were using me for target practice…." Kakashi chuckled.

Iruka made a face at the jounin and jabbed the needle into the cut. Kakashi choked down a yelp in response. _Note to self, don't aggravate Iruka while he's wielding needles…._Kakashi gripped the side of the examination table as the anesthetic began to burn his flesh.

"I wasn't talking about that, I was talking about as to why you were sent to the academy to teach." Iruka said as he withdrew the injection instrument out of the cut. He set the needle on the table and picked up the suture wire.

Kakashi let out a grunt as he finally felt the pain in some of his side go away. "I suppose there was no one else to take the job. At least that's what Tsunade said. I didn't offer to take this position. Technically, it's a mission…of sorts…"

"I figured as much." Iruka sighed as he began to close up the cuts. "So have you come up with a lesson plan for tomorrow?"

"Erm well….I was kind of wanting to talk to you about that…" Kakashi said. "I don't know how long I'm going to be here, but I would like to get to know my students regardless of the time frame. But I'm not real sure as to how I can go about talking with them. They are a little younger than what I am used to"

"All you have to do is ask Kakashi-sensei. They are just kids. They may be a little rambunctious at times, but they are still good kids….'underneath the underneath' of course." Iruka flashed him a small grin as his finished closing up the first cut.

"Maaa, true sensei. Very true." Kakashi stopped and thought about what he would do tomorrow. _I think I'll just spend the day getting to know all of them. Maybe that would be…_

"OUCH!" Dammit!" Kakashi jerked his head down to where Iruka's hands were placed. Iruka had grabbed the back of the jounin's left leg and was trying to turn him to get a better angle to be able to fix the cuts on his side. Iruka immediately jerked his hand away from Kakashi's leg.

"Do you have a cut there as well?" Iruka asked.

"Erm…no…" Kakashi turned his head back around. _Kami, I don't want to discuss that wound…_

"Then why did you yell out?" Iruka asked again, "If there is a cut there, I need to look at it."

_No you don't! _"No there's no cut there on my leg. Just worry about the cuts on my side for now."

"Fine." Iruka huffed and went back to work on Kakashi's side, trying hard not to put the man in anymore pain than he already was. "Anyways, back to what we were talking about. You may want to ask the kids where Taki-san left off and pick up the lessons from there. I don't think any of the other substitutes have tried that yet, or if they have…they haven't gotten far."

"I'll look and see what I can do. There wouldn't happen to be any troublemakers in that class that you know of….right?" Kakashi asked.

_Only 45 of them…oh wait...that makes up the entire class._ "Well it all depends on what you classify as 'troublesome'." Iruka snipped the last of the wire off and looked at his handiwork. Satisfied that the wounds would heal properly, he began to bandage Kakashi's waist. "Ok were done, I think…there's nothing else that I need to close up correct?"

"Nope! Thanks for all your help Iruka-sensei, and I apprentice the advice! I'll see you tomorrow!" Kakashi blurted out…. just a little too quickly in Iruka's opinion. Iruka just shrugged and stood up to begin cleaning up the equipment, while Kakashi, thrilled with the fact that his side had stopped bleeding and was comfortably bandaged, forgot about his problem with trying to walk straight. He took a step towards the door, yelled out, and almost collapsed in pain.

He could hear Iruka snort in disapproval behind him. "You lied to me. Get your ass back in here and let me see your leg." He looked back at Iruka, who was pointing to the exam table, obviously wanting Kakashi to lie down.

"I'm telling you it's not my leg…"

"Then what is it?"

"Iruka-sensei…I …uh…" Kakashi looked at the ground as it were going to supply him the dignity to answer the other teacher.

"Dammit what is it? Where are you hurt?"

"If….if I tell you…can you...um…"

"Can I what Kakashi-sensei?"

"Not tell anyone?" Kakashi heard the words rush out of his mouth before he had a chance to stop them.

"Stop playing around and just tell me where you're injured!" Iruka said impatiently, _Stupid jounin! They always have to act so damn tough!_

"I have a stab wound…" Kakashi sucked his breath in sharply "In my ...erm…butt."

Iruka just stood there. _Did I just hear him correctly? No way……no wonder he doesn't want me to tell anyone. Although this is giving me great material to blackmail him later with if he gives me anymore trouble… _"Are you serious?"

The look on Kakashi's face and his tone of voice made it quite obvious to the chunnin that he was not lying. "Yes, and it's pretty deep."

Iruka fought from laughing out loud. "Ok…" He put his hand over his mouth and turned around. "Just um….wow…ok…" Iruka bit his lip hard in hopes of trying to cause himself enough pain to refrain from laughing. "Just drop your pants and crawl up onto the exam table, I'm just going to have to fix it as well." _Although I might die from laughter…_

Kakashi limped back to the table and began to undo his pants. _This is such bullshit; I won't be able to look this man in the eye ever again. This humiliation alone will be enough to add to my quota of emotional scars, not to mention the new physical one I'll have the pleasure of showing off from now on. _He lowered his pants around his knees and pulled himself onto the table face down. _Well, after this I'm just going to go find a nice large rock to crawl under and hope that Iruka has a head injury between now and tomorrow. Hopefully if he hits his head hard enough, he'll get amnesia or something…_

Iruka knew this had to be embarrassing for the man. He remembered that he saw some clean linen on a shelf in the hallway and ran out to grab a sheet. He folded it up to a smaller size and went back to throw it over the jounin's exposed rump. He placed it carefully over the other man, trying to give him as much privacy as one could when receiving stitches in the butt.

Iruka barely heard the other man's respose to his kindness. "Thank you." Kakashi whispered.

"You're welcome." Iruka replied. He took a better look at the butt wound. "Wow, this really deep, how did that happen? Did you land on your side or what?" he asked.

"You could say that." Kakashi said as the memory of him balancing himself on Ibiki's lap played in his head. "It was my fault anyways…"

"No worries, we'll stitch this up and keep this a secret, neh?" Iruka gave him a soft smile as he went to prepare the anesthesia needle.

"Yeah…thank you again Iruka-sensei." Kakashi closed his eyes and tried to relax. _I hate this. There is absolutely nothing that could make this any worse… _

Iruka poised himself over Kakashi's wound, put his hand on the other man's skin so he wouldn't move, and was about to administer the shot when he heard a loud 'gasp' from the doorway. Both men spun their heads around to find Hanaka standing there with eyes wide open and her mouth in an '**O' **shape. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt you!" she began to back away from the door. "I'll leave you two to…erm…to whatever it is that you're doing!" The medic turned and ran out of the office.

Iruka's face turned five shades of red as Kakashi's face did the opposite and paled even further than what it already was. Iruka dropped the needle and ran after the medic-nin. "Hanaka-san! Wait! It wasn't what it looked like!" he yelled after her.

Kakashi just groaned miserably. He was tired, sore, and worst of all, his pants were down at his knees and there was basically nothing he could do until the stab wound was sewed up. Kakashi's brain went back and decided to retract its last statement.

_Heh_…_nevermind….things just got worse…_


	7. Another Confession and Roll Call

A/N: your reviews are totally awesome, And yes I'll be replying to all of them as soon as I post this. Then I'll go do some homework...which I should have been doing instead of writing this...

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and I don't make any money from this. Which is so lame...

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"I hate this. I hate everything about this. This entire mission is turning into a damn nightmare, and for the life of me I can't figure out how I can get out of it." Kakashi spat out. He glared at the unmoving stone in front of him. "Why Obito…why can't I get out of this? I've never…EVER…turned down or tried to get released from a mission…but this…I can't handle this."

Kakashi locked his gaze on the engraved name, as if he and Obito were engaged in a never-ending staring contest. Kakashi, the man who was always in control, always had a plan, always came out victorious, felt as if Obito were staring straight into his soul. This was the only place where the jounin could feel helpless and not be ashamed. Helplessness was for the most part, an alien feeling for Kakashi. It only came to him whenever he was in the presence of his ghosts….except for yesterday.

It angered him. There was no other was for him to convey it. Yesterday, he was helpless against the kids, the shinobi, Iruka, and…oh Kami… there was no way for him to forget Hanaka-san's torture. Iruka wound up chasing her out of the school and down another four blocks before he caught up to her. He had to practically drag her back into the school so he could explain exactly what happened and what they were doing. All three ninja did various amounts of blushing during this conversation, and Kakashi in particular had just wanted to disappear. It was mortifying, and the scene kept playing over and over in his head. Hanaka-san finally stepped away from Iruka to take care of the jounin. She was much rougher than Iruka has been, plus Kakashi could have sworn that she was groping his ass, instead of having just a firm grip on the flesh so he wouldn't move. He watched as Iruka cringed from the sight of Hanaka gouging Kakashi with the skin-numbing needle.

_I'll never be able to look at him in the face again. _Kakashi thought to himself as his bare ass was receiving a torture that he felt it didn't deserve. _It doesn't matter, it will be all over the village by sundown about how the great Hatake Kakashi went down by a single kunai to the ass….If that gets out to neighboring…especially hostile villages….I'm going to have to take extra precautions. Every enemy ninja between here and wherever will be out for my ass….literally…._

Kakashi focused himself back to the present. He was still staring at Obito's name, and the anger began to take control of his body, making it tremble. "Tell me…I know you know…..what do I have to do!?! I'd rather be out roughing it in the woods, walking that tightrope between life and death, feeling the rush of a fresh kill burning though my veins….not crammed behind some desk trying to teach! I thought I wanted to change…to change for the better. Not be this hardened shell of a man….but ….but I just can't!"

Kakashi heard his voice drop to a whisper at the end of his rant. The sound of his own voice refused to get any higher as he poured out his heart into the mass of rock that stood before him. "Is it easy for you where you are Obito? Nothing is ever easy anymore, and I thought this would be. Some genius I am, neh? I know tactics, I know how to plan strategy, and I know how to make the most out of what I have at my disposal out in the field." Kakashi waved his hand out in front of him and gazed up at the sky. "All this? All this shit about life and people….I don't know anything about it. Aren't teachers supposed to know about this kind of stuff? All I know is that what I do out on missions helps my village. It's always about the village…. It's not like I'm holding on for anything or anyone. No one is doing the same for me….and…gah…I just….I just don't know anymore."

Kakashi brought his gaze back down to the Fourth's name. _I've totally fucked things up, and what's sad is that I tried……I really tried this time. My class is probably scared to death of me, Iruka thinks I'm just a helpless teacher, and only Kami knows what kind of rumors are going around about me by now after this morning. You probably got a kick out of watching didn't you?_ Kakashi sighed, picturing his former sensei chuckling at him from wherever he was watching._ What do I do Sensei? I need a plan. You were always good about this kind of stuff. Beyond getting to know the kids… and that's if they will even talk to me after yesterday…I have no clue as to what to teach them. I guess what I'm asking is….what would you teach them Sensei?_

Kakashi then sat, gingerly, on the ground in front of the stone. He leaned towards the monument's cold surface and pressed his head into it. It was relaxing in a way; he could almost feel his ghosts pulling the stress out of his body, leaving it pure and relaxed again for whatever Kakashi was planning to put himself through. He closed his eyes and felt around for his lost friend's name as if he were a blind man trying to read a book. His fingertips brushed against the engravings, lingering for only a moment between names. He knew Obito's by touch alone, and when he reached his destination, he traced his friend's name with his fingertips. "Do you think I'm redeemable?" Kakashi whispered, "Do you think I should give this another chance? Do you think I'm worth another chance?"

As soon as he was done, a strong wind whipped around the jounin's body as if Obito was truly answering him. Kakashi strained his ears to hear his ghosts tell him the answers to life's questions that came with the wind's presence. He pulled his head away from the rock and stood back up slowly and painfully. The layers of bandages just weren't helping, and he decided against using any sort of painkillers because he knew he would have to be with the kids today. He needed to be on his toes, just in case there were anymore 'issues' that he may have to deal with.

As soon as he pulled his body up to its full height, his persona changed back into his normal, laid-back self. "Maaa, Obito, no worries neh? You know me, I'll think of something. But right now, I'm going to go brush up on some of the basics before class. Gotta stay on top of this stuff… wouldn't want anymore surprise injuries to occur….neh?"

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Iruka stared out of his classroom door at the scene that was playing out in front of him. One of Kakashi's students was balanced on top of a bench, trying to hang something from the doorway. _Kami, they sure as hell aren't planning to go easy on Hatake. Even on his second day they are planning all sorts of mischief. _Iruka scowled at the student, trying to make a conscious decision on whether to stop the youth. _Should I…or shouldn't I? No one gave me a heads up on my first day of teaching. Why should I? Although, after yesterday's fun…maybe I should go easy on him. _

Iruka glanced up at the clock that hung on the back wall of his classroom. _Well, it's 8 am again. Wonder if he's going to be on time today. Yesterday may have been a fluke for all I know…_ Iruka looked back at Kakashi's classroom door, only to find it returned to its normal state. _I have no clue as to what that kid did, but considering the circumstances...I think I'll just leave the kids alone. Hatake will just have to toughen up is all…_The sound of footsteps coming down the hall brought Iruka out of his thoughts. He peered around the doorframe to see who was walking in his direction. Wild shocks of gray hair were the only thing visible from behind its owner's orange book as the form limped towards the classroom. Iruka glared at the other man's reading material before he whipped his head around to look at the clock again. 8:00:59 it read.

_Heh…ok…so maybe it wasn't a fluke. But he sure as hell isn't planning on coming any earlier than what he's forced to …that's for sure. _Iruka let out a snort of disapproval before shutting his classroom door. _I can't believe he's reading that smut in the academy! Screw it, Hatake…be prepared for the nightmare otherwise known as 'first year academy students'…._

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Kakashi looked at his classroom door for a moment. He calmly put his porn back in his pouch and reached out to open the door. As he began to put pressure on sliding it open, he felt something tug on the doorframe. _Shit. A trap. _His hands made the seals faster than his students could blink and appeared in the back of the classroom, while the new projectile the little demons had created came loose from its position on the ceiling and swung like a pendulum towards the half-open classroom door. It crashed into the door surface, and to Kakashi's surprise, the impact did not shatter the big white object.

"Hn." Kakashi glared at his students for a moment before limping up to the front of the classroom and inspecting his 'object of demise' that his sweet students made especially for him. The object was still slightly bouncing off the door as Kakashi snatched it off its string. _Kami this thing is heavy. _Kakashi held it away from his body, trying to get a good look at it. The texture was thick and rough, and he estimated that a lot of paper went into making this. Kakashi's eye traveled from the object to the front row of students. He picked a small, black haired boy that was sitting there on the end.

Kakashi pointed to the boy. "You, what is this?"

The boy stammered out his response. "It's…its pa-paper…paper ma…paper mache…se-sensei…"

"I see that. I want to know what this is supposed to be though."

The boy frowned at his desk in front of him. "A…shuriken…Daigo said it looked ok…"

"Shut up! I did not Akito!" Another boy, obviously the one named Daigo, protested loudly from the back. The spiky brown haired boy shot the black haired boy a menacing look with his bright green eyes. "Why do you always have to tell?"

"He told me because I asked, and that's enough!" Kakashi turned his gaze towards Daigo. "If I wanted your opinion I would have asked, but I didn't, so be quiet." Daigo looked down at his desk and muttered "Hai, sensei."

Kakashi looked back at the boy that was cowering in front of him. "Akito, isn't it?" A sullen nod was his reply. Kakashi took another look at the paper mache shuriken. _Not bad, would definitely do some damage…it's as large as a windmill shuriken…and it's a good replica that's for sure. So….do I punish him on my first day? Or do I overlook this? _Kakashi looked at young boy in front of him as he decided to make his verdict. _Gah…I don't want to deal with this at the beginning of the day…screw it…I'll let it slide for now, I just won't tell the boy that._

"I'll deal with you later." Kakashi finally said. "Until then…no more of this." He waved the giant shuriken in front of the boy's face.

"Hai, sensei." was the boy's weak reply.

Kakashi tossed the homemade creation under his desk and picked up a clipboard and looked it over. The paper that was attached to it appeared to be the class's official roster. "I suppose I'll do a roll call. Raise your hand when I say your name please."

"Akita Mahio" A young boy with long, brown hair at the very back of the classroom raised his hand slowly. Kakashi nodded at the child and marked a checkmark by the boy's name.

"Chiba Yokou." A girl with short black hair raised her hand this time. Kakashi put another mark on his paper.

Kakashi continued down the list of names, always looking at whatever child happened to raise his or her hand, trying to put a face with a name. "Kamamoto Akito." Kakashi eye flashed to where his 'artistic' student sat. The boy raised his hand quickly.

"Kochi Daigo." The artistic boy's critic swung his hand in the air and gave Kakashi a dirty look. _Well, it looks like I already have my first enemy…the kid sure has some spunk…_ Kakashi shot him a dirty look back and marked off the boy's name.

"Kagawa Juri." A blonde haired girl that was sitting next to Daigo raised her hand and gave Kakashi her own look of disgust. _Hmmm…_ Kakashi paused a moment before checking off the girl's name. _I haven't done anything to her…why the look? _He saw the girl shift her eyes towards Daigo for a split second, only to return her gaze back to Kakashi's direction, still sporting the disgusted look. _Interesting…that boy has a fan…_

Kakashi continued on. The looks his students were giving him were a mix of fear, distrust, and hate. _This is going so wonderfully …_Kakashi snorted sarcastically.

"Toyamo Kenji." A spiky black haired boy over on the right raised his hand.

"Toyamo Kouji."_ Wait a minute… _Kakashi raised his head to find another spiky black-haired boy sitting next to Kenji raising his hand. Both boys gave Kakashi a devilish look. _Twins…_ Kakashi took a closer look._ Identical twins at that…I swear…someone… somewhere is really laughing their ass off right about now…_ Kakashi raised his eyebrow in amusement at the boys' attempt to scare off their sensei. _Yeah…I'll definitely need to keep an eye on those two…_

He finished the roll call without any interruptions. As he sat the clipboard down on his desk, he began in internally panic. _What do I say? These kids are bloodthirsty; the minute I look like I'm losing control is when they will act. Suck it up Hatake! Think of something!_

_What would Yondamie do?_

"Maaaa, so…why are you all here?" _I suppose this would be a good time to find out who's the smartass of the class._

"To learn how to be ninja….DUH!" Daigo answered. Kakashi gave the boy a bored look. _Why am I not surprised…_

"Ok, fair enough. But why do you want to be a ninja?" Kakashi looked back at the boy, waiting for his response.

"Because that's what I want to be." Diago said. "How hard is that to understand?"

"You want to be a ninja just because 'you want to be'. Hmmm, ok…" Kakashi pointed to Akito. "You, Akito, what's your reason for wanting to be a ninja?"

Akito didn't just blurt out an answer like Kakashi expected him to. Instead, the boy looked thoughtful for a moment, carefully planning his reply. "I want to be a ninja because…."

"Because what?"

Akito gave Kakashi a serious look. "Because it is an honor to serve the village. That's why I want to be a ninja."

Kakashi nodded. "Good answer Akito. You over there," Kakashi pointed to one of the Toyamo twins. "What's your reason?"

"Because I wanna be the Hokage one day!" The boy pumped his fist in the air and gave a victory sign, but not before his brother smacked him on the head and yelled, "You're not gonna be Hokage! I'm gonna be Hokage!"

"No you're not!" The other boy exclaimed as he took a swing at his twin, successfully landing a punch on his cheek. That was all it took for those two to start rolling on the ground, hands in each other's hair, punching and biting in the true spirit of sibling rivalry. Kakashi limped over and began to break the twins up. "Ok that's enough! Let go….Ow! That's my hand you bit Kenji!"

"I'm not Kenji! I'm Kouji!"

"No he's not! I'm Kouji! He's Kenji!"

"Liar!"

"Nuh uh! You're the liar!"

"Just knock it off the both of you! I don't care who is who! Just stop!" Kakashi growled as he finally separated the two and proceeded to sit them down roughly back on the bench. _Damn kids, those two are going to worse than what Sauske and Naruto EVER were…_

He looked up in time to see a decent size spit-wad make its way across the classroom and find its final resting spot in the middle of a certain jounin's forehead protector. _Splish. _The class erupted in laughter as Kakashi felt the excess drool run off the metal plate and onto his mask. E_www…That's just gross…_He flicked the spit-wad off his forehead and shot the class a menacing glare. The laughter died down a bit after that.

"Brats…" He grumbled to himself as he limped back towards the front of the class. The kids giggled as Kakashi tried again, "Okay, so far I've heard that you guys want to be ninjas because you want to protect the village, to become Hokage, and just because you want to…does anyone else have an answer?"

The class went silent. _No takers…fine… _"Well I suppose that will be your homework assignment since no one wants to answer…." All of a sudden, a resounding burst of answers came at Kakashi all at once.

"Because being a ninja is cool!"

"I wanna be a ninja cause my brother is one!"

"I have to be a ninja; my whole family is made up of ninjas."

"I want to be a ninja so I can protect my family!"

"Cause being a ninja is important!"

"Wait…. stop! Who said they wanted to be a ninja so that they could protect their family?" Kakashi's eye scanned the classroom. The girl with the short black hair raised her hand timidly. "Yokou…correct?" Kakashi asked. The girl nodded. "That's a good answer. In fact, that's the answer I was looking for."

The girl began to blush from being singled out. Kakashi chuckled for a moment and decided to elaborate. "Protecting your family or your friends is very important. In fact, it may be the most important thing next to actually protecting the village itself. Keep that in mind as you continue on your paths to becoming shinobi."

"Hai, sensei." the kids replied. Kakashi looked at the clock and decided that it may be a good time for a break. "Ok, time for recess and I'm assuming you have 15 minute recesses correct?"

"No, they usually last about 30 minutes sensei." Diago said. Kakashi looked at the boy as he was trying to put on some sort of sickly-sweet face. _Hmmm, more than likely he's lying…_

"Hn, Well we will just start at 15 minutes and go from there…neh?" The kids jumped up and took off, while Diago scowled at Kakashi before following his classmates out the door.

_That boy is going to be a problem…_Kakashi thought to himself. _In fact…all of them look like they are going to be a problem…_

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Iruka heard Kakashi's kids bailing out of their classroom. He looked up at his own classroom clock and decided that the older shinobi made a good choice in taking a break. _Might as well let my kids go out as well. _"Recess everyone!" Iruka's students jumped up and ran out of the classroom almost as fast as Kakashi's had run out of their own.

Iruka chuckled to himself as he watched the kids flee. As he watched that last youngster run out, his eyes caught Kakashi's form wandering around inside the other classroom. _I might as well go check on him, that's the least I can do. _Iruka stood up and walked across the hallway.

Kakashi had his back turned towards the chunnin and Iruka heard him muttering something about 'spit-wads' and 'tranquilizers'. _Wow, that bad already?_

"Kakashi-sensei? How are things going?" Iruka asked, breaking the jounin's train of thought.

"Neh? Oh Iruka-sensei!" Kakashi spun around and smiled at the other man. _Thank Kami he's here… _"I …uh…need to ask you something…erm…or wait…what I mean to say is….um…I have questions….err…"

Iruka just sighed. "You didn't ask the kids where Taki-san left off did you?"

"Well no….under the circumstances…. I never had the chance."

"I take it that they have been keeping you busy?"

"Slightly." Kakashi admitted to the chunnin. "I'm having a little bit of a tough morning you could say…"

"We all have them at times. Here, have you checked the desk for the old lesson plan yet?"

"No I haven't. And to be honest, I'm not looking inside that desk unless it becomes absolutely necessary…."

"What's the matter Kakashi-sensei?" Iruka stifled a laugh. "Are you afraid of what you might find?"

"You would be if you had a class full of hellions…." Kakashi muttered. "I'm not exactly afraid of what may be lurking in there, but I will admit that I am afraid of what the repercussions will be…tell me Iruka…what's the academy's policy on throttling students?"

Iruka let out a burst of laughter. "Oh come on now…it's not that bad." Iruka opened the top desk drawer and began rummage around inside of it. He found Taki's lesson plan book and pulled it out. "Let's see…ahh here we go." Iruka motioned for the Copy-nin to come over to where he was at. "Look, Taki-san left you some detailed lesson plans, all the way up until school lets out from what I can see." Iruka paused for a moment. _Taki seemed to know that he was planning on going away for quite some time to have planned this far ahead. I wonder what mission Tsunade sent him on…_

"Maaa, Iruka-sensei, can I start with this?" Kakashi pointed towards a page in the book. Iruka stopped himself in mid-thought and looked at what Kakashi was pointing to.

"Hmmm, Shinobi Codes and Basic Field Tactics. That sounds good Kakashi-sensei." Kakashi gave Iruka a relieved look.

"Thank you for all your trouble Iruka-sensei. I really appreciate it."

"It's no problem, just be on your toes." Iruka grinned back that the jounin. He turned around tried to push the desk drawer back in. _What the hell? _Iruka pushed harder on the wood. "Hmmm, seems to be stuck…."

"Uh Iruka-sensei….maybe we should leave that drawer alone…" Kakashi said as he eyed the drawer suspiciously. "Here, let me look at it."

"Nonsense," Iruka waved Kakashi back, "It's just stuck is all." Iruka grabbed a hold of the inside of the drawer and pulled it out further. "It just needs a good jostling…"

"Are you sure? Let me look at it with my Sharingan…"

"No need, I've got it." Iruka pulled again on the drawer. Something inside snapped and the drawer pulled itself shut….. violently…and taking Iruka's hand with it in the process.

The howls of pain could be heard all the way across the school and onto the playground.

A group of Kakashi's students looked up from their game of kickball and grinned evilly to one another.

Diago had the biggest grin of them all.

"Hehe…got him."

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The rest of the day didn't go well for either shinobi after that. Iruka came away from Kakashi's classroom suffering from three broken fingers as Kakashi dragged him to Hanaka-san. The medic shot them both another weird look and reddened at the thought of yesterday's fiasco. Kakashi just mumbled "Take care of him please", before he bailed out to the safety of his classroom.

Which proved to be anything BUT safe from that point on….

The kids, obviously disappointed that it wasn't Kakashi's hand that had been the victim, decided to turn it up a notch. Every time Kakashi turned his back to write something down on the board, some sort of projectile was flying towards him from all sorts of angles. Spit-wads, little paper shuriken, eraser ends, and one time a marble flew past his head at a frightening speed, successfully lodging itself into a wall. Kakashi just stared at the hole it made. _I can't kill them…and me yelling at them and telling them to stop doesn't seem to work either…dammit…maybe if I just tortured one as an example for the rest of the class…_

By the end of the he was exhausted. The back of his flak jacket was covered in little dried spit-wads and eraser debris. His hair was droopy from the amount of sweat he had managed to produce from the high stress level his kids were giving him. And to top it off, his butt hurt and sitting down was definitely not an option. He did think about it at one point as he eyed the teacher's chair warily, almost tempted to sit in it. But the reminder of what happened earlier to Iruka was enough to make him shy away. _I'm going to have to replace every piece of furniture in this damn room at this rate. _

Kakashi sighed in relief as he watched the last of his students run out of the classroom when the last bell rang. He then proceeded to walk around the room, making an attempt to pick up the mess the kids had made during the course of the day. He made it up to the front and threw away various pieces of trash into the basket by the desk. Kakashi glared at the desk and wondered how Iruka was doing. _Maaa, I hope he's ok. He was really pissed when I took him to the nurse's station…_

"You look beat."

Kakashi looked up to find said chunnin leaning heavily against the doorframe. _Wow, he looks about like I do….just without the spit-wads…_

"Maaa, I'm ok. Just in pain from my injuries from yesterday." Kakashi gave the teacher a weak smile. "I should be questioning you about your hand….which by the way looks better."

"Yeah… it looks less broken." Iruka put his hand up and scowled at it, as if it was mutated and it disgusted him. He dropped the bandaged appendage and began digging though his vest with his good hand. "Here, I borrowed these from Hanaka-san." His fingers found the white pills and he dug them out and offered them to Kakashi. "Take them now; the effects will wear off before you have class again tomorrow."

_I'm tempted to take them BEFORE class tomorrow…_ "Thanks, Iruka-sensei." Kakashi turned his back to the chunnin long enough for him to pull down his mask and pop the pain relievers into his mouth.

"You should probably eat since you just took those." Iruka pointed out.

"I'll grab something on the way home. Probably ramen or something."

Iruka's stomach growled at the thought of a hot-piping bowl of miso ramen. Apparently Kakashi heard his stomach's protest because the older ninja let out a chuckle. _I owe him for the desk thing today…_

"Say Iruka-sensei…you hungry? I'll be more than happy to pay." Kakashi offered.

Iruka stared at Kakashi for a moment. _Hmmmm… free food…_ Iruka's train of thought wasn't as clear as it normally was due to the fact that he had taken the same doseage of pills that he gave Kakashi before he came to the Copy-nin's classroom. _Eh…it's the drugs talking…screw it...I'll go..._

"Sure ...why not…"


	8. The Challenge of a Lifetime

Heh...it's been awhile...

Sorry for the long delay...this chapter jacked with my brain is such a not good way that I rewrote it...11 times... flame me for my lateness!

Disclaimer: Still don't own em'...

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Walking in a comfortable silence, the two teachers slowly made their way to the ramen stand. Iruka occasionally stole a sideways glance at Kakashi, wondering to himself if the masked man would try to start up a conversation. Every time he took a glimpse of the other's face, however, all he could see was Kakashi's good eye contorting in various expressional ways. Iruka shrugged it off at first, but his curious eyes wanted to look at the man's face more than what his brain was telling them to.

Iruka forced to keep his gaze focused straight ahead until he heard a small grunt. He carefully looked to his side again to see Kakashi's face, well, more or less his eye, in yet another animated state. _I can't see his face, but that damn exposed eye of his sure does say a lot. _Iruka thought to himself. _It looks like he deep in thought, or he's talking to himself…and answering himself back...crazy jounin._ All of a sudden, Iruka thought of a very interesting way to amuse himself._ Hrmm, I wonder…… _Iruka started to smile inwardly, _I bet if I study his eye movements, muscle tension, and feel his chakra flow, I can get a better perspective on what he's thinking. _Iruka's mouth did a half frown at that thought. _The question is, do I really want to know what is going on inside a jounin's head… Hatake Kakashi's head at that._ Iruka shot Kakashi another glance. _Bah…. _Iruka's mouth turned into a soft smile, _Why not? This can be training…'ninja perception training'…_Iruka rolled his eyes, _that makes absolutely no sense but oh well…if he asks me about it I'll blame the drugs._

The walk started to become quite interesting for Iruka, more especially now since he had a new game…erm…training to play…err …do… Iruka smiled and shrugged. _Whatever. Let's test his chakra._ Iruka seeped a small wisp of his own chakra out and cautiously grazed the other man's energy. Oddly enough, Iruka felt nothing; it was like feeling out a normal civilian. _He's either really good, or really stressed. This will be harder than I thought. I'll just have to go off the eye movements alone._

Iruka was sure now that Kakashi wasn't even paying attention to his presence at all. From what Iruka could tell, Kakashi was simply running on autopilot to the ramen stand; relying on nothing but his feet to guide him. He watched the man run through what seemed to be an emotional spastic attack or a complete nervous breakdown.

Kakashi on the other hand was up to his eyebrows in the horrid memories of the past two day's events. Those memories led him back to the day when Tsunade gave him his new teaching mission, and that memory led to his old memories of trying to teach Team 7. That alone stirred up enough bad memories to last him the rest of the day. One particular memory always haunted him, and it happened on the day Saskue took off to Sound and betrayed his village. It wasn't the fact that he left, or the chase, or facing the weakness of having to get another village to back up Kohona, it was his memory of Naruto.

For all the things Kakashi had ever done in his life, he wished he had done things differently with him. Yes, Obito's, Rin's and his Sensei's deaths all weighed heavily on his mind, but finding Naruto by the side of that waterfall hurt him the worst. Kakashi rationalized that some things could not have changed from the actions in the past, but with Naruto, he had a direct impact on the boy's life. He had been his sensei, his mentor, one of the few adults that chose to recognize the boy for what he was and what he was trying to become. He knew both of his young male students had gone through numerous levels of trauma, but the village wanted him to focus more on Sasuke, on more or less trying to teach him how to use his Sharingan eyes. Then came the whole chunnin exam thing with Gaara as Saskue's opponent, and hell, he had no choice but to teach him what he could. He thanked Kami everyday for Naruto stumbling upon Jiraya like he did. Later on when Kakashi became overloaded with S-ranked missions and Jiraya decided to take Naruto off of Kakashi's hands, the whole ordeal had shattered his hopes of trying to redeem himself to Naruto and hopefully one day be forgiven.

Unfortunately that brought on more angsty emotions about how he had further failed as a teacher. Which brought him back to his present situation, and his career as a teacher was looking just as dismal as it had back then. His genius brain was musing in a self-destructive circle, and to make matters worse, Kakashi really did not know how to put an end to it. But he did acknowledge the fact that his current students had to be dealt with.

Kakashi's brain started grinding into high gear. _I have to think of something, something has to get those kid's attention long enough to spark sort of interest in what I'm supposed to teach them instead of them concentrating on trying to cover me in as many spit wads as humanly possible. _Kakashi's eyebrow rose up in a curious state. _What if I give them permission to prank me? It would give them something productive to do, and get them to work as a team. _His eyebrows drooped together at the next distasteful thought. _If they use exploding tags or smoke bombs however….things could get ugly and we'd all be in deep shit. _He focused his gaze at the ground beneath his feet. _It might work …and it may not. I'm really beginning to think that I don't have what it takes to even teach pre-genin…and that's just pathetic. _His face twisted up for a brief moment. _The damn chunnins would laugh me right out of village. Gah…chunnins… Iruka… _He frowned at his sandals. _My own students hurt another shinobi….Diago… _Kakashi balled up his fist so tight that the skin stretching across his knuckles began to turn white. His eyes flashed for a moment before his eyebrows furrowed together in anger. _He's a problem, and for a six-year-old he's dangerous as hell…I'm willing to bet the next six months worth of pay checks that he was behind that desk drawer prank…_

All the while, Iruka was staring at the man in amusement. It looked as if Kakashi was developing some sort of nervous twitch. _That would definitely put a damper on him acting aloof. _Iruka chuckled inwardly to himself over the jounin working his own self into such a state. _Jeez Kakashi…angst much? No wonder Sasuke had that brooding look down so well. Oh wait look, hmmm…is that the look of hope? _Iruka smiled. _Interesting, ahhh it went away too soon. Sadness…regret maybe? Nah…that can't be right. _Iruka studied the man some more. _It could possibly be doubt…ooo…is that panic? No...not panic…more like mortification…_

Iruka was patting himself on the back for being as observant as he was. _Looks like this was going to be easier than what I thought. Hmm…now that has to be his sad look, sadness with a little shame to add into the mix. _Iruka saw his hand curl up and his shoulders tighten. _Ahh…he's upset now. Hmmm...he looks kind of furious actually. Slightly homicidal as well…_Iruka caught the gleam in his eye…_ Yup definitely homicidal…_

Iruka decided that he should end the game right there. _Note to self, be aware of his eyebrows making attempts to grow together…The Hatake Murder Face is not to be taken lightly in any situation…_

"Kakashi-sensei…are you alright?" Iruka asked cautiously. He figured that it may be a good thing to disturb his train of thought….before Kakashi felt the need to act on whatever was bothering him. "Um…Kakashi-sensei?" Iruka waved his hand in front of the other man's face. "Yoo-hoo…Kohana to Kakashi-sensei…."

Just then a noise hit both teachers like a sonic wave almost knocking them over.

It was loud.

It was obnoxious.

And its transmitter was clad in green spandex and running…no…_prancing_... towards Kakashi and Iruka in what seemed in a very suggestive manner…

Anyone (male or female) running (or moving in general), in head-to-toe spandex just has too many body parts for it not to be considered as inconspicuous and modest. At least that was Iruka's opinion. And unfortunately, the fad had spread to at least one other person, and that said person was prancing along right behind his sensei.

Iruka turned to Kakashi and caught the look on the man's face as Kakashi stared in Gai's general direction. _Ooo…despair…that can't be good_ …

Although, that did snap Kakashi back to reality. Of course anyone who is bellowing out syrupy, adjective-laden strings of vocalizations at 150 decibels (or higher) is enough to catch even Kami's attention.

And apparently, Kakashi was just not in his god's good graces today.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI! I HAVE FINALLY FOUND YOU!" Insert toothy, eye blinding smile here. "I HAVE COME TO ISSUE YOU A CHALLENGE!"

"Gai, I'm not really in the…." Kakashi started, but before he could finish Gai's 'mini-me' burst out into his version of Gai-anese.

"IRUKA-SENSEI! HOW NICE TO SEE YOU TODAY!" Iruka was momentarily blinded by Lee's beaming smile. He stopped paying attention for a moment until the spots in his vision went away. Unfortunately, Lee was screaming just as loud as Gai so tuning him completely out was not an option. "WE HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR KAKASHI-SENSEI ALL DAY SO MY BELOVED AND WISE TEACHER CAN ISSUE HIM THE CHALLENGE OF A LIFETIME!"

Iruka raised his eyebrow curiously. "The challenge of a lifetime eh? May I ask what your sensei had in mind?"

Iruka swore he heard Kakashi whimper.

Lee's eyes grew even bigger and he bounced with anticipation. "MY SENSEI IS GOING TO BE VICTORIOUS TODAY! I FEEL HIS YOUTHFULNESS SURGING THROUGH THE AIR AS WE SPEAK!"

_Or as we 'scream,' _Iruka thought_. I could have sworn that when I taught his class that emphasized that ninja were supposed to be quiet…._

Iruka turned his gaze to Gai, focusing on his forehead so his eyes did not get a direct hit from the blinding arsenal of teeth that Gai had in his own mouth. "Whatever it is, could we hurry this along? Kakashi-sensei and I were heading to go eat, and both of us are not feeling all that well…and…uh… Gai-san …um…if you don't mind me asking…what in the hell happened to your head?"

"AHHH YES! THE GODS HAVE ACTUALLY DELIVERED THIS CHALLENGE FROM ABOVE FOR US TO CARRY OUT! IT'S WHY I HAVE THE BANDAGES!" Gai spoke in his normal tone of voice while pointing at the bulky bandages wrapped around his head.

Kakashi groaned loudly as Iruka tried not to look confused. "The Gods you say…" Iruka scratched his head. "But that still does not explain why you have bandages on your forehead."

"MY UPMOST APOLOGIES SENSEI! I SHALL TELL YOU NOW HOW I ACQUIRED MY NEWEST WOUND WHICH LED ME TO OUR NEW ORDAINED CHALLENGE!"

_Might as well tell the rest of Kohona how you 'acquired' them as well, since the better half of our village population has heard and is now listening intently…_ Kakashi thought bitterly to himself. A crowd had started to form and civilians and ninja both had decided to become avid spectators of whom Kakashi had labeled as 'The Village Idiot'. _Ordained? Gah…I don't even want to know…_

"IT HAPPENED RIGHT OUTSIDE THE HOKAGE TOWER! I WAS STRUCK BY A PAIR OF BINOCULARS THAT CAME HURLING OUT OF THE SKY!" Insert incredulous look from Kakashi and Iruka here. "THOSE BINOCULARS WERE A MESSAGE FROM KAMI HIMSELF TELLING ME TO LOOK INTO MY FUTURE AND TAKE IT UPON MYSELF TO FULFILL MY DESTINY!" Insert another wary look from Kakashi and a random "Neji's finally rubbed off on Gai" thought from Iruka here. "MY DESTINY IS TO CONTINUE CHALLENGING MY GREATEST HIP AND MODERN RIVAL UNTIL THE END OF OUR DAYS!"

Kakashi groaned again while Iruka smothered a laugh. Gai didn't notice either action since he was dead set on finishing his story.

"MY BELOVED AND FAITHFUL STUDENT LEE WAS SO DISTRAUGHT! BUT HE MANAGED TO GET ME TO THE HOSPITAL ON NOTHING BUT HIS PURE POWER OF YOUTH WHERE THE DUTIFUL NURSES OF KOHONA SAVED ME FROM MY MORTAL WOUNDS!"

_Damn nurses…_Kakashi and Iruka thought unanimously together.

"WHEN I AWOKE TO KOHONA'S FINEST MEDIC NINJA TENDING TO MY HEAD, IT FINALLY DAWNED ON ME AS TO WHAT EXACTLY KAMI WAS TELLING ME! THE SCAR THAT WILL FORM ON MY HEAD IS ANOTHER TESTEMENT TO MY LOYALTY TO KOHONA AND ALL THAT IS SACRED WITHIN ITS WALLS! KAKASHI…MY CHALLENGE TO YOU IS …WHOEVER HAS THE MOST SCARS WINS! KAMI HAS DEEMED THIS TO BE OUR NEXT CHALLENGE!"

Iruka slowly tried to unravel that ball of Gai Logic that had been so unceremoniously exposed to. He decided that no matter how he looked at it, Gai was just insane. He turned to Kakashi, "Is he serious?"

Kakashi was staring at Gai with a blank look on his face. "Very."

_Scratch that…ALL jounin are insane…_ Iruka began to rub his forehead. "Gai-sensei…I'm pretty sure that Kami didn't…"

"KAKASHI! ARE YOU READY TO TAKE ME ON IN OUR NEW CHALLENGE?" Gai posed in Flamboyant Position #98.

"Gai…" Kakashi jerked his brain out of angst-mode and back into tactical-genius-mode. "I'm going to have to reject your challenge due to the fact that I cannot see every scar on my body. I don't have eyes in the back of my head so I won't be able to see anything that is on my back." Kakashi said smoothly without hesitating. "Sorry, maybe next time…"

"AHHH I THOUGHT OF THAT KAKASHI! THAT'S WHY I HAVE MY ESTEEMED STUDENT THAT HAS GRACIOUSLY VOLUNTEERED IN ACCEPTING TO BE MY SECOND FOR THIS CHALLENGE!" Gai was grinning like a madman. "HE WILL BE MY SCAR COUNTER!"

"Then I'm going to have to reject your challenge on the grounds that this is completely stupid…"

"NONSENSE! BESIDES, EXERCISING OUR RIVIALRY HELPS US STAY IN THE PRIME OF OUR YOUTH!" Gai stood in his patented "Thumbs Up to Youth" pose.

"Then I reject on the grounds that I do not have a 'second' to count my scars for me." Kakashi's eye went into an upward crinkle. "Sorry, but Iruka-sensei and I will be on our way now…" Kakashi went to grab for Iruka's arm in a desperate attempt to steer the younger man away from his insane rival, but Lee stepped in between them.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI! FORGIVE ME FOR BEING SO BOLD, BUT IRUKA-SENSEI COULD DO YOU THE HONOR OF COUNTING FOR YOU!" Lee bellowed.

_OH HELL NO! _Iruka's brain started to do a little bellowing of its own. _I am NOT getting dragged into this mess…_"Lee-kun...I'm afraid I can't…you see…I…"

Lee turned around to face Iruka with his large eyes sporting newly-formed tears that glistened in the sunlight. His lip quivered and his total look of 'kicked-puppy-dog' had stopped Iruka's reasoning for not participating in his sensei's insanity. "IRUKA-SENSEI, PLEASE, DO THIS FOR ME, MY SENSEI, AND FOR KAKASHI-SENSEI AS WELL! YOU ARE A TEACHER OF THE YOUNGER GENERATION OF YOUTH AND YOU ARE FAIR AND TRUE TO YOUR WORD AND YOU WOULD HONOR US ALL IN PARTICIPATING IN THIS CHALLENGE BY SHOWING ALL OF KOHONA THAT YOU ARE A GREAT NINJA AND ARE WILLING TO ASSIST ANYONE IN HELPING THEM FULFILL THEIR DESTINY! YOU GUIDE LITTLE ONES INTO FINDING THEIR DIRECTION IN LIFE SO PLEASE HELP MY SENSEI AND HIS RIVAL TO BE ABLE TO CONTINUE THEIR OWN ENTWINED DESTINIES AND CARRY ON WITH THEIR MOST BELOVED TRADITION!"

_Damn you Lee…you HAD to go and put it like that didn't you…_Iruka just sighed. After a speech like that Iruka couldn't just deny the boy and walk away. Not without looking like a complete asshole.

On top of that, a rather large group of people had now formed around the four of them. Iruka took a moment to look at his surrounding and found some of his students and a many parents standing there watching his every move. He had a reputation of being a good academy teacher as well as being an all-around decent person and he knew he couldn't leave and make up some lame excuse. Besides, he couldn't afford to let his image be shot all to hell either; his students wouldn't be able to feel that they could count him when they may need his advice or help if he walked away now.

Kakashi had also taken a mental inventory of who was watching, and to his horror, a few kids from his own class were spectators as well. The twins, Kouji and Kenji were off to the left, while Youko was standing much closer. His kids were looking at him with interest gleaming in their eyes. _Why can't they pay attention to me like that in class? Is this what it takes? Cause if it is I REFUSE to bring Gai to any of my classes…I don't care how much it freaking works…_Kakashi thought for a moment. _Maybe…maybe now while I do have their attention…they could learn at least a little something. Maybe this challenge with Gai won't be so bad if I work it right. But of course Iruka would have to help out...again…_Kakashi looked up at Iruka hoping that the man would just go along with whatever craziness Gai had planned…at least just this once.

Iruka was already forced into going along at this point. _I'm going to put my foot in Lee's ass before this is all said and done. I also need to go have a talk with that dammed Hyuuga teammate of his and tell him to knock off his rants about 'destiny and fate'. _Iruka sighed before turning to face Kakashi. The copy-nin stared back at the man, but something in his eye had changed. It was now looking at him with a silent plea. Not in a 'please don't have a part in this mortification' way, but in a 'let's just make this quick' sort of way. _He seems like he wants to go through with this…gah…_

Iruka took a deep breath. "Kakashi-sensei, erm…I ..uh…what I mean to say is…erm…are you ready…heh… for your challenge of a lifetime?" Iruka gave him a small smile. _Heh, I don't know how he puts up with Gai, but oh well….why the hell not._

Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief. He gave Iruka his most sincere grin, even though it was hidden beneath his mask. "Yeah…let's get this over with so we can go eat."

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There was some disagreement on where the challenge would take place. Unfortunately, the crowd wound up voting on behalf of the four ninja, many of them stating that they had to apparently suffer through the other neurotic, and sometimes hilarious, challenges they had previously done in public, and that they would almost feel insulted if this were to take place behind closed doors. Gai immediately agreed with them stating that they were "Outstanding, Beloved and Youthful Citizens of Kohona and would always be protected by The Green Beast himself and that he would win this challenge, or he would run 750 laps around Fire Country blindfolded".

Kakashi and Iruka had other things to say about those citizens, but neither of them said anything out loud. Although that didn't stop the thoughts of hoping that all of them would be reincarnated into horrid things, such as cat litter boxes and toilet bowls, after this life and other thoughts of teaching their children some unorthodox jutsus that would not only piss off every parent in Kohona, but if done enough times, would definitely draw every skunk and ferret within a 100 miles radius to the village.

In either case, the Hokage would probably not be very pleased with either shinobi for not acting more…shinobi-like, so both thoughts were quickly crushed by their respective owners.

Lee produced two pairs of shorts from only-Kami-knows-where, and instructed both jounin to go into the alley and change. Someone else offered up two stools for Gai and Kakashi to sit on while their bodies were on display for the entire village to see. Iruka was beginning to wonder if the Kohona population was so used to Kakashi/Gai face-offs that they readily kept random items to accommodate whatever challenge was going to happen that day. Iruka found it even odder that when the two Jounin returned that they didn't question where the hell their sitting apparatus came from. Obviously they were used to it…which Iruka found even more disturbing.

Kakashi felt very exposed during the challenge. Not because he was sitting almost naked, save his shirts and mask, but rather for the fact that every scar on his body was being probed and counted by Umino Iruka. The man's hand that wasn't wrapped in bandages were not soft, but not overly rough either. His fingertips had scar tissue built up over them from so many years of handling assorted throwing weapons when he taught classes. Kakashi could feel Iruka's scars touching his own, and in some weird way, Kakashi began to feel very self-conscious.

The counting process had gone quickly starting from the face and head. The chest and back areas were a little more difficult. Zabuza's sword had definitely left its mark, and it was a focal point for many of the spectators. Youko was staring intently at Kakashi's chest, and the look on her face was one of a curious student. Kakashi noticed that she was staring openly and gestured for her to come closer. The little girl shuffled her way towards her sensei, eyes wide and dull of questions.

"Neh, Yokou-chan, what's on your mind?" Kakashi said quietly.

The little girl's eyes were still fixated on the large scar on his chest. She opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out.

"Are you wondering about this scar?" Kakashi lightly touched where the blade had penetrated his skin.

The little girl nodded her head. "Does it still hurt Kakashi-sensei?" Yokou finally tore her gaze away from his chest and met it with Kakashi's grey eye.

Kakashi let out a small chuckle and patted the young girl on the head. "No Yokou-chan. It doesn't hurt any more."

Youko tilted her head to the side and asked her next question. "But why is it so big? Why didn't a medic ninja heal it so it wouldn't be so horrible to look at?"

_Ahh…now that's a difficult one to answer. _"Well, I was on a mission at the time. There wasn't any medic nins around to treat me, so I had to make do with what I had available." Kakashi smiled. "And this scar is a reminder for me; I would not wish it away for anything."

"But why did you get hit? Aren't ninja supposed to be so good that they don't get in the way of the enemies attacks?" A young boy's voice asked nervously.

Kakashi looked to his side and saw that the twins had made their way out of the crowd and were standing closer to where he was sitting. Kakashi motioned for them to come closer and to stand next to Yokou. Both boys looked at one another with a wary look in their eyes before slowly making their way toward their teacher.

Kakashi's eye crinkled up in a smile. "Well yes, that is true. But my scar came from a special case. I chose to get injured so I could summon my nin-dogs to aid me in my fight. My opponent didn't look underneath the underneath and he fell into my trap."

Iruka remembered Naruto telling him of his adventures in Wave Country, and how Kakashi had fought Zabuza. He knew the man had suffered some serious injuries from that mission, but never really got the full story on what had happened. When he had patched up Kakashi from the day before he noticed the scars but never really got a good look at his chest, and now his up close and personal view was making him sick to his stomach. _He's done so many missions, and he's still living. But not without memories etched into his body. _Iruka's fingers grazed the spots where the kids' shuriken and kunai had pierced his skin during his weapons practice. _I've added more bad memories to his collection. _Iruka almost threw up from the thought, so he steered his attentions to Kakashi's voice in hopes that it would take the pressure off of his guilty conscious.

The kids were looking at Kakashi in confusion and awe. Kakashi almost laughed out loud as they were trying to process all the information that they receiving. "Maa, don't dwell on it too much. Remember, it doesn't hurt me anymore." Kakashi reached out and gently took Yokou's hand in his. He brought it to his chest where she could feel the ugly slash. "See, I told you it doesn't hurt." His mask tugged upwards in attempts to match his eye. He motioned for the boys to come closer. "Come on, it's ok."

The boys reached out timidly and touched the same spot where Yokou touched. Kakashi smiled again at the three of them. "Being a ninja does make you faster and stronger than others, but it doesn't make you invincible. You have to treat each fight as if your life is on the line. That way you will be ready for the worst. The worst may not happen, but you'll be prepared for it." Kakashi gave his students a serious look. "Do you understand what I'm saying? Being a ninja isn't easy…that's why we have a ninja academy, so you guys can learn to become awesome ninja."

The kids looked at him and smiled. "Hai Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi grinned back. "You know, if you guys do well and pay attention, you'll be better than me one day."

Kouji's and Kenji's eyes lit up. "You really think so Sensei?" they said in unison.

Kakashi chuckled. "Well that depends on how much you guys pay attention in class. You can't learn much if you're too busy goofing off. Besides, I think you all have what it takes to become good ninja."

Yokou's smile was attempting to split her face in half. "I'm gonna do my best Sensei!"

The boys nodded their heads in agreement. "Yeah! Us too!"

Kakashi's eye lit up. "I'm gonna hold you guys to that…ok?"

The kids mobbed him then, giving him an unexpected hug. Kakashi stiffened for a moment at the gesture, but then relaxed and smiled. It startled Iruka since he had been listening to the other man and counting scars. The hug had interrupted his numbering, but luckily he left his fingertips on a scar right above his ribs on his back so he wouldn't lose his place.

Kakashi threw his arms around the kids and hugged them back. "You guys go get back over there with the crowd. I need to stay still for Iruka-sensei so he can finish. Don't wanna mess him up you know?" Kakashi winked at them. "If he messes up I might lose to Gai-sensei…and we can't have that now can we?"

"Nope!" the three chimed in together.

"Alright then, off you go. And remember that you said you'd try to do your best in class!"

"We will Kakashi-sensei!"

_And I'll try to be a better ninja as well. _Iruka thought to himself. He looked at Kakashi's back and made a silent promise to the other man. _I screwed up with my prank, and maybe one day I'll get the courage to tell you what I've done. I've made a mistake...hell I've made many mistakes. But my biggest one is that I've misjudged you. That's not the way I was brought up, and it isn't my ninja way. I promise, I'm going to make this up to you…somehow…_

"Ne, Iruka-sensei…are you close to being done back there?" Kakashi turned his head around and looked at Iruka.

Iruka looked down and smiled at Kakashi. "Not yet Kakashi-sensei…but we're getting close."

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Thirty minutes later Iruka and Lee were standing in front of their partners with their grand totals.

"I HAVE COUNTED 86 SCARS ON GAI-SENSEI'S PERSON! IRUKA-SENSEI….WHAT IS YOUR TOTAL?" Lee asked.

"I have the same number…which is scaring the heck out of me at this point…" Iruka said.

"You're not the only one that scared…" Kakashi added eyeing Gai warily. "That is kind of creepy…" Kakashi turned back around to Iruka, "Say um….did you count that scar in that one place?"

Iruka looked confused. "What place?"

"You know…THAT place."

"Kakashi-sensei…I have no clue…" Iruka eyes grew wide. _Yeah…I forgot about the one on his butt, of course it's not visible…you know what they say…out of sight out of mind…_ "Oh wow…um…no I didn't."

Iruka turned to Lee. "I'm sorry Lee-kun, but Kakashi-sensei has 87 scars…not 86. There is one that isn't so visible but you have my word that it is there."

Gai looked crushed. "GAH! YOU WIN AGAIN! KAMI HAS CHOSEN YOU TO WIN ON THIS DAY, BUT FEAR NOT! AFTER I DO MY LAPS I WILL RETURN TO GO UPAGAINST YOU ONCE MORE!"

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it…" Kakashi grumbled. At least he wouldn't have to deal with Gai for a few days…and thanked the gods for Fire Country for being as large as it was. Gai certainly had his work cut out for him.

"Iruka-sensei… would you be as kind as to hand me my clothes so I can change and we can be on our way?" Kakashi asked politely.

"Of course Kakashi-sensei." Iruka got up to fetch the other sensei's clothes.

"KAKASHI! I DO HAVE ONE QUESTION!" Gai asked. "WHERE'S IS THAT LAST ELUSIVE SCAR LOCATED?"

Iruka was positive that he heard Kakashi let out a whimper this time. He grabbed the copy-nin's clothes and ran back out to where he was sitting. "Gai-san…maybe one day you two can compare notes on where you both have been injured, but don't you have some running to do?" Iruka said hoping to get Gai's attention away from Kakashi's personal issues.

"AHHH YOU ARE CORRECT IRUKA-SENSEI! I MUST BE OFF!" Gai ran into the alley to change back into his spandex. "COME ON LEE! I KNOW YOU WANT THE EXTRA TRAINING SO YOU CAN KEEP YOUR YOUTHFULNESS AT PEAK LEVELS OF PERFORMANCE!"

"HAI GAI-SENSEI I DO!" Lee was bouncing in circles. "I'M READY WHEN YOU ARE!"

"WELL LET'S BE OFF!" Gai bounded out of the alley. "IRUKA-SENSEI, KAKASHI-SENSEI, THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING! NOW I'M OFF TO GO MAKE GOOD ON MY WORD! BOTH OF YOU BEE WELL AND MAY YOUR YOUTH KEEP YOU SAFE AND HEALTHY!" Gai sprinted off into the sunset with Lee hot on his heels.

"Well, our youth needs to guide us to the ramen stand, because I'm really starving now." Iruka called out to Kakashi who had ducked in the ally to change.

"Very true Iruka-sensei, come on lets try to get there before the sun sets." Kakashi said as he stepped out of the alleyway from changing back into his uniform. "Come on let's go."

"Alright Kakashi-sensei."

"Hey, Iruka-sensei…enough with the formalities. I think after these events from the past couple of days justifies that action. Please…just call me Kakashi." Kakashi looked at him with his eye upturned once again.

Iruka grinned back. _No formalities huh? I'm honored. _"Fine then…but only under one condition."

"And what would that be Iruka-sensei?

"Call me Iruka."

Kakashi smiled.

"As you wish…Iruka…and thank you."

_No Kakashi…thank you… _Iruka smiled, "Come on…Kakashi…we have to go celebrate your victory. Now let's get going before Gai actually does finish all 750 laps."

Kakashi grinned as they set off once more to the ramen stand. Kakashi only had one final thought on the way…

_Maybe…just maybe I can do this after all…_


	9. Conversations over Ramen and Gravestones

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Naruto...dammit...

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"Hatake-san, Umino-san," Ayame bowed to both of her new patrons, "What can I get for you today?"

"One bowl of beef ramen for me," Iruka said as he looked to Kakashi to get the other ninja's ramen preference. Kakashi looked thoughtful for a moment, "Hmm good choice, I believe I'll have the same."

"A bottle of sake too if you could Ayame-chan," Iruka added. Ayame nodded and went to go retrieve the small bottle of alcohol. Kakashi turned to give Iruka a look of surprise, which just basically consisted of an eyebrow raise, but Iruka still caught his expression. He felt suddenly flustered for some reason and made an attempt to hide it by rubbing his scar. He gave Kakashi a weak smile, "Ahh well umm…it's been a long day. I need to loosen up a little."

"I just never took you for someone who would drink during the school week." As soon as Kakshi said those words he mentally winced. _Could I be any more of an ass? Remember your __mannersfor__Kami's__ sake… _"I apologize, that was rude of me to make assumptions about you." Kakashi said as he steadied himself on his stool without putting too much pressure on his left butt cheek. _I __really__ wish this would heal __just __a little faster…_

"Ahh, it's ok. Many people think that way about me. Just because I'm a school teacher doesn't necessarily mean I'm a straight-laced, stuffy teacher." Iruka said as he took up his seat next to Kakashi's. "Teaching children isn't easy, and sometimes it's just good to relax a little after a hard day of trying to keep the kid's attention spans focused on you for more than ten minutes at a time."

"I can definitely agree with you there," Kakashi said, "I will admit, this teaching thing is much harder than it looks. I'll even go further and admit that I never really gave the job of teaching much of a second thought. I never took any of it seriously. You know the saying…'Those who can… do…those who can't…teach'."

Iruka frowned at Kakashi's words. He knew that old saying, and he never agreed with it. "Yes…yes I've heard of it." He looked up and saw Ayame pouring two cups of sake for them. He hoped that her presence at the table would make Kakashi drop the subject and move on to something else.

Unfortunately, Kakashi couldn't read Iruka's mind and he continued on. "Yes well, whatever fool came up with that has obviously never taught." Kakashi nodded to waitress in thanks. "Ahh …thank you Ayame-san."

"You are welcome Hatake-san and your food will be out shortly." Ayame said as she turned to walk back towards the kitchen. The thought to thank Ayame for bringing out the sake never crossed Iruka's mind. He was too busy sitting there in shock of Kakashi's last words. "Excuse me?" he questioned.

"What?" Kakashi gave Iruka a puzzled look. "My apologies if I said something out of line…"

"No no, you didn't." Iruka frowned at his sake glass and decided that he would much rather see it empty. He swallowed the liquid and continued. "I just find it hard to believe that you have a change of heart after only one day of being in the classroom with them."

"Well, believe it. Kids think adults are intimidating when it really is the other way around. And as for that saying…it's basically a blatant lie. The people that 'teach' obviously can 'do' because if they can't, they cannot 'teach' whatever it is that they know how to 'do' to begin with," Kakashi said, "People that teach have the gifts of being patient and being able to communicate in a manner that enables others to learn."

Iruka blinked in disbelief. "Do you really believe that?"

Kakashi sighed and shook his head. "Iruka, I know damn good and well those kids hardly listened to a word I said today. Hell, look at me," he began to chuckle lightly, "I'm covered in spit wads and I have eraser chunks in my hair. I got owned by a bunch a 6 and 7 year olds because I assumed that teaching pre-genin was easy, and I deserved every bit of torture those kids put me through." Kakashi stopped chuckling long enough to let out another sigh. "It's just too bad that I didn't get anything accomplished with them today. Although I did find out which ones were the troublemakers."

Iruka sat there and let Kakashi's words sink in. _I can't believe that he's admitting that the kids are kicking his butt. I figured that he'd be brushing off all of these incidents to save his ego. _The feeling of guilt came back to haunt him. _Great, I've really screwed up this time…He's nothing like I thought he was. I'm not going to be able to sleep at night now…jeez. I suppose I really shou__ld help him with his classes__, or maybe help him make friends with the kids or something. _"So which kids are going to be problematic?"

"Well," Kakashi started, "I think the whole class likes a good prank, but I think I should concentrate on Diago." Kakashi said. "He may not be the solid ringleader of the entire class, but the boy definitely has skills in the pranking department. Don't get me wrong, if they actually pull off a decent prank on me, I don't think I would mind. That would certainly help to keep me on my toes. However, I don't agree with how Diago is going about it. It's obvious that people can become injured by his pranks, which makes this a problem."

"Diago? As in Kochi Diago? Hmm…that's interesting." Iruka said as Ayame set down their bowls of ramen. "Thank you Ayame-san."

"Let me know if you need anything else Umino-san, Hatake-san. Enjoy your meal." She said as she gave a polite bow and walked away.

"We will and thank you again." Kakashi added as she continued back towards the kitchen. He turned to Iruka as he broke apart his chopsticks. "How is Diago's behavior interesting? Were you expecting me to say someone different?"

"Well, if that is the child that you think that's the most troublesome, then you may have another issue on your hands." Iruka said around his mouthful of ramen. He heard the clinking noise of chopsticks hitting an empty bowl and turned just in time to see Kakashi adjusting his mask over his nose. _Whoa…__Naruto__ wasn't exaggerating on how fast Kakashi eats…._ "Erm...are you done? Or do you want another bowl?"

"I'm good for now, I need to let my stomach settle for a few moments." Kakashi said as he poured himself another drink. "More sake Iruka?"

"Yes please." Iruka smiled as Kakashi poured him another cup. "Are you always this hospitable towards people that you take out to dinner?"

"Well, considering my dinner guests used to consist of three hormone-induced teenagers, I've found that I would rather spend the evening having an adult conversation with another adult, rather than have to break up various arguments and would-be fist fights." Kakashi replied. "Unfortunately I just hardly ever get to do it that often. Being an active ninja on the roster doesn't give me very much time to hang out with others." He rubbed the back of his sheepishly, "This mission…erm…teaching position… would almost be somewhat of a vacation…well I mean… that is if I weren't teaching…maa…it's hard to explain…"

"No I get it." Iruka swallowed another wad of noodles. "I work the mission room and I know how hard the Hokage works everyone. I've also heard a little bit about when you became a chunnin and a jounin. You were very young were you not?"

"Yes, according to the elders and the Hokage I was labeled a genius back then. Therefore, I was needed out in the field more than in the village." Kakashi swished his sake around in his cup and propped his chin up on his elbow. "Not much of a life, neh?"

Iruka just stared into his bowl of ramen. _Being forced to go kill at a young age, not having hardly any human contact other than to kill…that is a lot of stress for an adult. __To think that he was doing it as a child…_A thought flashed through Iruka's mind. "But you had team seven. You had time to spend in the village then."

"Yes, but I don't train in the village. Especially with Naruto and Sasuke sparring. People would have thought that they were trying to kill one another, and then I would have had all sorts of trouble. It's much easier and peaceful to train outside the main gates. " Kakashi reasoned. "That way I had the freedom to train in the areas that they were lacking in." _Even though I couldn't train them in what they needed the most…_

"That makes sense. I can understand not having the freedom to train, or teach in my case, in the way I know my students need it." Iruka said before he finished off his bowl of ramen, "There have been times other teachers and I have had to go before the Hokage and the elders with new curriculum ideas for the students. Sometimes we get our way and other times we don't. It's frustrating to know that the information you want to pass on may help save a life someday, and the council members fail to see the reasoning behind it."

"Yes, yes it is. Although it is hard for me to see Tsunade turning down ideas from the Academy teachers." Kakashi said as he shook the bottle of sake to gauge the amount left inside.

"Well, it's mostly the elders who have issues with what we teach the children." Iruka snorted into his sake cup. "Those stuffy, old geezers are a pain in the ass sometimes."

Kakashi broke out into a deep laugh. "Iruka-_sensei_! I can't believe you're speaking about the village elders that way!" Kakashi cried out in a mocking voice and held his hands up to his face. "What would your students say about that?"

Iruka shook his head and laughed with him. "I think I could go to them to find more colorful words to call the elders. The kids can be quite horrible at times." Iruka let his laughter die out due to his stomach making noises. "Wow, I must still be hungry…"

Kakashi snickered and hollered for Ayame. "Ayame-san! May we get a couple more bowls of ramen and some tea?"

Ayame stuck her head around the corner. "Of course Hatake-san! It will be right out."

"I hope you don't mind tea Iruka, I don't think it would be a very good idea for us to go to school tomorrow with hangovers." Kakashi said as he drained the last of the sake into Iruka's cup.

"No I don't mind, and thank you for dinner Kakashi." Iruka said before finishing his drink and moving the now empty cup and bowl over to the side. "You didn't have to go to all this trouble."

"This is no trouble at all Iruka, and I'm the one who should be thanking you. You had to participate in one of the most senseless challenges Gai has come up with so far," Kakashi replied.

"It wasn't so bad, although you do have some interesting scars." Iruka said as Ayame came out with their ramen and their tea. "I bet there are some interesting stories behind some of them."

"There are a few stories that are interesting. I've even gotten a few of them from the challenges Gai and I do." Kakashi said as he picked back up his chopsticks. "Our taijutsu fights can get rather violent. Especially when Gai forgets to trim his toenails and I'm on the receiving end of a open-toed, 'youthful', roundhouse kick."

Iruka almost snorted his noodles out of his nose from laughter. "You're kidding?!" He gasped out after a few moments.

Kakashi's eye turned upwards and Iruka could almost see him grinning under his mask. "Nope. His toenails could rival a bear's if he doesn't keep them trimmed."

Iruka started laughing again and began to hold his sides from his ribs aching. He was laughing so hard that he didn't notice that Kakashi had already finished his second bowl of ramen and was flagging down Ayame once more for some more tea. Iruka finally composed himself to sit up and start working on his second bowl. Both men sat there in a comfortable silence for quite some time before Iruka spoke again. "Taki-sensei is his father."

"Huh?"

"Diago. The teacher you replaced was his father, Taki."

Kakashi blinked and gave Iruka a long look. "Diago's father was the original teacher? I thought it was unconventional to have your own child as a student? "

"Well it is. But with our forces cut back due to Sound and Sand's attack on the village, there is a shortage of teachers because we chunnins are also doing missions as well. With not as many teachers to go around, we have had to consolidate some of the classes." Iruka explained. "The situation with Taki-san and his son had to be overlooked because of this."

"Shit…" Kakashi murmured.

"Like I said, I think you may have a different type of situation on your hands if Diago is the problem." Iruka said while nibbling on a piece of beef. "His father has been out on a mission since a couple of months ago. No one has heard anything about him coming back, so there is no news of where he is actually at, more especially since his mission is classified. The class has had numerous substitutes trying to fill in the position, but they all quit after about a week. Sometimes they don't even last that long."

Kakashi just sat there staring at his empty bowl. _Now I get it. __Diago__ doesn't want anyone taking his father's place. It makes __Taki__ dead in a sense. __Maa__…now this really sucks. _Kakashi mentally groaned. _I have an __angsty__ prankster on my hands…like a combination of __Naruto__ and __Sasuke__. Apparently I'm overdue for an enormous backlash of karma from the way this is turning out. _He brought his head up and shot a sidelong glance at Iruka finishing up his ramen. _He knew. Why didn't he tell me?_ "Um… Iruka?"

Kakashi's questioning was interrupted by two jounin standing at the entrance of the ramen stand. The taller shinobi with the cigarette hanging out of his mouth was calling Kakashi's name."Kakashi!" Asuma barked out, "There you are! We've been all over the village looking for you! By the way, I heard you won Gai's challenge, counting scars….that's a new one… Hey Iruka! Good to see you too! Wow! You guys look like shit!" Both teachers frowned at the last comment and Iruka tried to hide his bandaged hand.

"Asuma! It's not polite to shout like that." Kurenai scolded. She turned to look at both men. "Kakashi, Iruka, how are you two this evening? You two do look a little worse for wear. Kakashi…are those dried up spitwads? And what happened to your hand Iruka?"

Kakashi snorted, "Teaching pre-genin should be a continuous A-rank mission. Too bad that it isn't or Iruka here would be making fortune."

Iruka chuckled at Kakashi's statement. "We're good Kurenai; my hand is fine, just a bit sore. How are you and Asuma doing?"

"Doing fine." Kurenai replied. "Actually, I kind of had a question for Kakashi…"

"Do I need to leave? I don't want to impose." Iruka said pushing himself off of his stool.

Asuma held his hands up. "No! You are more than welcome to stay. Actually you need to hear some of this anyways."

"Erm…ok…is everything alright?" Iruka asked sitting back down in his chair.

"Everything is great actually. Really, really great…" Kurenai hesitated for a moment before continuing on. "Um, you guys are aware of mine and Asuma's…erm…" She made a small gesture back and forth between Asuma and herself.

"Personal relationship?" Kakashi offered with a hint of a smirk in his voice.

Kurenai blushed in response. "Ahh yes. You know we have been staying discreet when in public seeing how regular citizens frown upon shinobi relationships."

"Of course, and I think the shinobi community has done a nice job on keeping personal relationships under wraps. I also think it's silly that the regular citizens look down on us having a life outside of protecting the village. But that's my personal thoughts…" Iruka said. "It's a shame really…"

Kakashi nodded his head in agreement. "It is indeed." He turned his attention to the jounin couple in front of him. "So I'm assuming you are coming to us to tell us some new news about your relationship?"

Asuma nodded. "Yes well, we're um…we're getting married. And we would love for the both of you to be there in support for our marriage. This whole this is going to be a small affair, but I'm assuming the reception party might be somewhat large. There are only shinobi that are going to be present, and the public is not going to be aware of it as well."

"Of course Asuma! I'm honored that you've asked." Iruka gave him a huge smile.

"Maa… I'll be there as well. Thank you for the invitation." Kakashi's eye turned upward to match his hidden smile.

"Well, um Kakashi, I had something separate to ask of you. As you already know…my father has been dead for years now, and I don't have anyone to escort me down the aisle….and I was wondering …wondering if…" Kurenai voice trailed off and she looked to Asuma for help.

"She was wondering if you would walk her down the aisle Kakashi." Asuma finished for her. "I told her that I didn't think that you would mind. Since you're in the village due to your new teaching position and not leaving for awhile, I didn't think that you would mind doing this for us."

"I wouldn't mind doing it for you regardless if I was in the village or not. I'd be more than happy to do it." Kakashi said grinning like a loon.

"Great!" Asuma said with excitement. "Kurenai and I really appreciate you doing this Kakashi. It means a lot to us."

"Yes it does. Thank you so much." Kurenai added. "Don't worry the reception will be well worth you doing this for us…if you know what I mean."

"Ooo…lots of alcohol perhaps?" Iruka asked.

"Maybe a little." She replied with a mischievous grin. "Anyways, we're going to do this next weekend, so you're getting a week and a half notice. Iruka, if you'd like, Anko needs some help with decorations in both the temple and reception area, if you're interested."

The thoughts of Anko possibly molesting him during the wedding setup ran through Iruka's brain. He tried not to shudder at the thought and was attempting to try to make up an excuse not to help when Kurenai added, "We really need all the help we can get. We know you're responsible and we know you'd do a good job at handling how our wedding decorations would look…"

Kakashi had seen the flash of emotions crawling over Iruka's face at the mention of Anko's name. He was trying hard not to stare at the chunnin trying to make up his mind but he couldn't seem to tear his gaze away from his face. _Worse comes to worse…act sneaky when staring. _It was almost comical, but Kakashi did his best not to break shinobi rule #64: 'Thou shall not bust up laughing when making attempts to act stealthy'. Between Iruka's eyes getting wide and his mouth moving up and down, his look of 'a clueless goldfish' was rather impressive.

_Gah__…not __Anko__…anything but __Anko__…damn you __Kurenai__WHY do you have to look so…so…so pouty__…_ "Erm…I suppose I could help…" Iruka said hesitantly.

Kunerai gave him a relieved smile. "You're awesome Iruka. Now, the wedding is at 10 a.m., but the rehearsal starts at 8."

"What type of wedding are you two having?" Iruka asked. "A traditional wedding doesn't seem to be too discreet."

"We're going have the wedding done in the western style, without the three wardrobe changes, endless amounts of incense, and the obscene amount of vows and praying. That's going to attract too much attention if we want to keep this as tactful as possible." Kurenai explained. "Tsunade suggested that a western-style wedding would be best."

She then turned and gave a pointed look at Kakashi. "Please try to be on time, I know it's killing your reputation right now for you to have to show up to school on time as it is, but this is the only wedding I'm going to have and I'd like for it to go smoothly." Her look turned slightly darker and she added, "Besides Kakashi…I'd really HATE to have to use any jutsu at my own wedding…"

Kakashi quickly puts his hands in front of him, "No no…I'll…I'll be there…"

She glared at him just a little harder. Iruka swore if she stared any harder at him she could quite possibly make the Copy-nin's hair spontaneously burst into flames just from the intensity of her eyes alone.

"On time…"Kakashi finished meekly.

"Good." The dark look was replaced with a sunny disposition and a wave. "See you guys there!" With that she turned and walked out of the ramen stand with Asuma giving them a thumbs-up sign before following his fiancé.

"Western-style eh? What's that like?" Kakashi asked as he turned around to finish his tea.

"Well, it's much simpler than our traditional weddings we usually have. Some of the mechanics of it are kind of similar, but it's basically like Kurenai said, no changing clothes, incense, or praying or singing. There are still some vows, but not as many. The receptions are somewhat the same, plenty of drinking and dancing." Iruka said.

"Ahh, well, I won't be dancing, but I'll go along with the drinking." Kakashi replied.

"Uh…you have to dance." Iruka politely informed him.

"Who says?"

"You have to dance with Kurenai since you're the one who's giving her away. Asuma is supposed to step in sometime in the middle of you two dancing and take over. It's part of the tradition." Iruka explained.

_Shit…_ Kakashi thought. _Well this is going to be an issue__…__especially since I don't know how to dance._ "I wonder if Kurenai would be nice enough to let me skip that part."

Iruka snorted into his cup of tea. "Ha! Were you not noticing how hard she was glaring at you just so you wouldn't show up late? I think you'd be better off just sucking it up and dancing with her."

"You may be right," Kakashi conceded, "I really don't want to be on the receiving end of one of her jutsus."

Iruka turned to look at Kakashi. "What exactly was she talking about having to use jutsu at her wedding?"

"Well, as you know she is a genjutsu specialist. I've seen some of what she can do first-hand…needless to say it's quite impressive…and scary…" Kakashi gave a small shudder. "I remember one time when Kurenai was out training her team out by where my team and I were training one morning. Apparently Kiba arrived late and she threw a genjutsu on him to teach him a lesson. We heard someone screaming so we ran over to where they were in the forest thinking that there was trouble. When we got there he was just huddled on the ground whimpering." Iruka's widened again in shock. "He wouldn't tell anyone what he saw until later." Kakashi gave a small chuckle. "I have it on good authority, per Naruto, that Kiba thought he was training Akamaru with his Dynamic Marking, but instead of the dog peeing on everything, it was actually Akamaru training Kiba how to do it…at the hot springs…on the female's side…and apparently none of the girls were too happy about it…I think he might have been naked as well…"

Iruka just sat there and laughed. It was just too funny to comprehend. _Where in the hell was that woman when I was teaching him?!?!I would have KILLED for a __genjutsu__ like that back then, _he thought. He looked up to find Kakashi laughing along with him. He couldn't help but sit up and give Kakashi an honest smile. _Wow…three days ago, if someone told me that I would be at the ramen stand with this man and __actually be having a good time, I would have told them that they were absolutely crazy. We've __been sitting here for awhile, eating, drinking, and having serious conversations. Hell, __Kurenai__ even asked him to walk her down the aisle! That's saying something, regardless if he's being forced to stay in the village or not. I think I drew too many conclusions from __Naruto's__ stories to make an honest opinion about him…_

"Maa, Iruka, it's getting late. We should be heading home to get some sleep. Remember…we have class tomorrow." Kakashi said as he stood up digging out his wallet for some bills.

"Ahh yes, of course." Iruka stood up. "Thank you again for dinner."

"No problem." Kakashi said turning back around to look at Iruka. _This was __…this was __fun…_

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_**"I'm honored that you think that my services here could help your class as well."**_

_**"I'd never hurt Iruka-sensei, nor any one of my students or my teammates."**_

Iruka tossed from one side of the bed to the other. Kakashi's words from the past couple of days were haunting him, making the guilt come to the surface and fester in Iruka's mind.

_**"**__**Maaaa**__**, he's not going anywhere with you."**_

_**"You don't seem to the type that would run around and purposely spread gossip, especially over some silly little weapons lesson."**_

He flung a pillow and the kunai he kept underneath it across the room in frustration. _Shit…_ He thought as he banged his head into his mattress. _T__hat's my only pillow…_

_**"Thank you for all your trouble Iruka-sensei."**_

He growled as he sat up and glanced around the moonlit room. He finally spotted his abused pillow, not on the floor but pinned to the wall by his hidden kunai. _Wonderful…I'll have to go by Sato-san's shop again. This makes this like the fourth time this month I've had to replace a pillow…__hmmm I wonder if I can get it on credit…_ He looked at his alarm clock. _4:00 a.m. __…__.wonderful…just wonderful…_

_**"I really appreciate it."**_

"Gah!" Iruka flung the covers off of his body and proceeded to put some pants on. _Cocoa…hot cocoa will make everything __better,_ he thought to himself as he drug his tired body out of his bedroom and into his kitchen.

_**"Being a ninja does make you faster and stronger than others, but it doesn't make you invincible."**_

_Must make cocoa faster._ Iruka grumbled and glared at the water pot in front of him. _Cocoa will make it __all __go away…_

_"__**Besides, I think you all have what it takes to become good ninja."**_

Iruka sat down at the table, giving up on watching the water boil. He rolled his coffee cup between his hands trying to concentrate on something else. _There really is only one way to make the guilt go away…_

_**"Please…just call me Kakashi."**_

_No one should be there at this hour…at least that will make it easier…_

_**"As you wish …Iruka…and thank you."**_

_Shit…_ Iruka got up from the table and went back to the bedroom. He yanked a shirt over his head and stomped back to the kitchen. He sighed as he took the water off of the burner. _I have no right to be mad at anyone but myself._ He knew there was only one way to effectively clear his conscience, well, clear it as much as he could without telling Kakashi how big of an asshole he really was._ Mom…Dad…I'm coming for a visit._

He turned to go get his sandals but stopped when he saw his coffee cup sitting on the table. A small smile crossed his face as he went back into the kitchen, _not before I get my cocoa though…._

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Iruka's silent footsteps through the trees made it easy to make his way to the memorial stone undetected. Feeling the early morning dew settling into his clothes, he sped along his trail of tree branches hoping to make it to the memorial in good time. He knew he'd do ok if he stayed away from anything or anyone that would slow him down. Occasionally there would be patrols out this way, and he hated having to run into them and explain what he was doing out here at such an early hour. He was pretty sure that the ANBU Black Ops didn't really want to hear about how he had issues with guilt, shame, mistrust, anything else that would be considered a negative feeling. Plus when flustered, and being confronted by ANBU generally provokes the feelings of being uncomfortable, he had a bad habit of stuttering and rambling. In the end, he just decided that everything would be much easier if he'd work on his stealth skills when going to visit his parents.

_I'm close, I can almost see the clearing…_He thought as he leapt off of a higher branch down to a lower one, safely making his decent from the treetops. All of a sudden he felt something not quite right with the area and almost made himself plummet to the forest floor from his abrupt stop on the tree limb he was occupying. _Chakra…it's familiar…who in the hell is out here at such an early hour? _He jumped down to the ground and crept his way towards the massive back stone in the middle of the clearing.

He couldn't see anyone standing in front of it. _Odd…did the person sense my presence and leave? _Iruka closed his eyes and concentrated on the area's terrain, sensing for any type of movement. _No, someone is still here…_ He moved forward and froze when he heard a voice speak.

"You know Obito, I think I'm going to able to do this teaching thing. I think I finally made a friends well… well maybe not a friend per say…acquaintance…maybe…I don't know really…but I did take him out for dinner this evening." A pause. "Hey! I paid this time!" Another pause "No, it wasn't with students, it was with an actual adult."

_Who in the hell is this person talking to? There was only one chakra signature…_ Iruka moved forward just a little bit more and stood on his tiptoes to see over the tall weeds that were growing close to the monument. From there, he saw the voice's owner halfway laying in the grass and leaning back resting on his elbows for comfort. He could see the back of Kakashi's head tilting to the side as he chattered away to the stone like it was his best friend. His voice however was different. It sounded younger, more innocent, like a young teen's voice. _Kakashi?__ What in the hell is he doing out here, and who is he talking to?_ As soon as he thought it, he felt incredibly stupid. _You're not the only person who has lost a friend or a loved one idiot…but, I don't remember anyone named __Obito__…_

"I also won Gai's challenge. Scar counting this time." Kakashi continued. "He said that it was ordained from Kami himself. You didn't have a hand in that did you?" Pause. "You're right, that's more of something sensei would set up." Pause. "I know I'm changing the subject. Why does it matter who I hung out with last night?" Another pause. "I was never good at making friends Obito, you know that. Hell, when you were alive we were never really that close. Teammates is all. Nothing special." Another pause, and this time Iruka had to strain to hear Kakashi's softly spoken words, "Listen, I know that having friends is normal. But if you haven't noticed, I'm not what is even considered normal. I'm a shinobi remember? I'm not even normal under shinobi standards. So where does that leave me?" Pause. "No I'm not an emotional douchebox…I see Rin and sensei still haven't cleaned up your vocabulary… although I did hear someone yesterday call someone a 'pickle-dicked tree-licker'. I heard that on my way home from the ramen stand and thought of you. I know how you love to come up with new and interesting ways of giving people nicknames."

Iruka bit his lip to keep from chuckling. _Those are pretty good…I'll have to remember to use them when __Genma__ gives me shit. _He composed himself and tuned back into what Kakashi was telling his dead teammate.

"At the risk of changing the subject again, I got asked to Kurenai and Asuma's wedding. Ooo and guess what?" Pause. "Kurenai asked me to give her away. They are doing it western-style…or whatever that means." Pause. "Yeah I thought that was neat too. Although there is one problem." Another pause. "I can't dance. Apparently at some point I have to dance with Kurenai. It's tradition or something. The last time I tried to dance was when Rin tried to teach me how and I wound up crushing one of her feet on accident." Kakashi's head cocked over to the other side. "You remember don't you Rin? You limped away screaming about how I was such a brilliant shinobi and yet you couldn't figure out why I couldn't dance worth a shit."

Kakashi pushed himself up and sat cross-legged on the ground. "No, I don't know how I'm going to handle the dancing problem, but I'll figure something out, I always do." Another pause and a sigh, "Obito, WHY are we going back to what happened last night? Iruka and I had a decent time. Well at least I think he had a decent time. I hope he did…I had fun…" Pause and a scowl, "I'll make friends Obito…eventually…I'll have more of a chance now that I'm going to be in the village for a little while. But I'm more worried about what I'm going to do with the kids…more especially Diago." Another pause. "Yeah, he's been the main culprit so far. I seriously think he was the one that rigged my desk. Which reminds me, I need to ask Tsunade if it's ok for me to replace all of the furniture in the class room." Another pause. "No Obito… I'm not being paranoid…."

Kakashi sighed and pushed himself up off the ground and stood in front of the memorial. Iruka noticed the change in his voice; it was back to its normal tone. "I have to go. I have class in a couple of hours and I need to be prepared. I believe a lesson in summons will be interesting…anyways, I'll see you all again tomorrow morning." His hands flashed through some seals and the disappeared in a puff of smoke.

_Summons? Well at least today may not be so boring…especially if Kakashi and summons are involved…_Iruka thought as he stepped out of the shadows of the trees and walked towards where Kakashi had been sitting. The grass where he was laying was firmly pushed into the ground, a testament to how long Kakashi had actually been sitting there. Iruka shook his head and focused on the stone in front of him.

"Mom, Dad…it's me. I know I haven't been here in a while, but… I've screwed up pretty well this time…"

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Kakashi watched in amusement from his henged form of a floor plant at the scene in front of him. Most of the children were huddled around his largest dog summon, trying to figure out what its purpose was for being for being there in their classroom.

"That dog is huge."

"Is it even real?"

"Of course it's real."

"Whose dog is it?'

"Dunno…think it has a name?"

"If it doesn't can we call it Killer?"

"It's got to be someone's…"

"Ooo no wait! Let's call it Gravedigger!"

"Yeah! That sounds cooler!"

"It's got really big ears."

"I wonder if it drools?"

"Of course it drools, it's a dog …duh…"

"What's that thing it's wearing?"

"It looks like a cape…maybe it's a special dog!"

"What's a special dog doing here in our classroom?"

"What's that mark on his cape thingy?"

"It looks like a face…"

"It sure is ugly."

"What's ugly? The face on the cape or the dog?"

"Both," Diago said as he stepped closer to the animal trying to inspect the cape around its neck. "It looks like it's the owner's insignia."

"What's an insignia?"

"Get a dictionary and look it up." Diago said. "Not my fault if you can't understand big words."

"You don't have to be a jerk Diago." Akito said softly.

"Whatever Akito…" Diago shrugged the other boy's comment. "So you think that sucky teacher left this thing here to teach us instead?"

Yokou was sitting at her desk looking over a scroll. "He's not a sucky teacher Diago," she said looking up from her studies, "and you should be more respectful."

Diago smirked in her direction. "Aww what's the matter? Got a crush on our sensei?" The statement made most of their other classmates laugh. Yokou's face turned red and she buried her head back into her scroll.

Kenji pushed his way through the circle of kids surrounding the giant bulldog and came face to face with Diago. "She's right…he's not a sucky teacher…so shut it."

"Yeah shut it." Kouji echoed. He was standing behind Diago with the same look of defiance on his face that his brother was expressing.

"What's wrong with you two?" Diago shouted at them. The twins didn't move or back down. "Fine be that way, I'll just take care of the both of you right here and now." He rolled up his sleeves and took up a defensive stance. "He's a sucky teacher because I SAY that he's a sucky teacher and…"

"Would you shut up already? I'm trying to sleep here, and you little brats are annoying me." The bulldog said as he stood up to his full height. Every kid in the room froze where they were and looked up at the massive dog.

"Uhhh...uhh…it talked…" Akito stammered out.

"Of course I can talk…so…since I can speak…why don't you pups get back to your seats…" The dog took a deep breath and woofed as loud as he could. "NOW!"

Forty –five kids proceeded to scream in unison as the floor plant over in the corner began to shake violently. If anyone had noticed, they would have mistaken the plant's shaking due to the dog trying to break the sound barrier with his bark. Actually, that was all Kakashi could do to keep him from laughing so hard and trying not to drop the henge.

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Iruka jumped up from his desk and ran to his door. From there he could see what was causing the commotion and he let out a small laugh. _Well, at least school won't be near as boring with him around…_

He turned and went back to his desk, his kids looking at him in curiosity. "Get back to work! Shinobi must NOT break their concentration when doing an assignment!" The kids 'meeped' and went back to their studies. Iruka sat down at his desk and settled himself in for grading some more papers. It wasn't too long that his thoughts traveled back to Kakashi.

_I'll check on him at lunch, maybe see if he needs any help with anymore lesson plans._ Iruka smiled at a new idea. _I'll also offer to help him out with his 'dancing problem'…It's the least I can do. I can't dance like a pro or anything, but I can help him not look like a complete idiot. Hmmm…I'll have to bring the subject up in a stealthy way of course…_


	10. Unorthodox Discipline

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or it's characters.

A/N: Thank you to all who have reviewed and are still stayinig with me on this story. I'm getting closer to shoving these two together, so hang in there for a few more chapters!

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"I had a decent day today Obito, I think Sensei would have been proud of me." Kakashi said to the black stone. "First of all, I didn't get bombarded with spitwads today. I believe I have that little problem taken care of thanks to my summons lesson. Of course, it cost me five pounds of steak. Hell, four pounds of it was Bull's alone, but it was worth it. I didn't think kids could cringe like that…"

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Kakashi composed himself before dropping the henge to address the class. After watching the children scream and flail their hands in the air while attempting to run to their seats in a chaotic fashion after Bull's brilliant performance, Kakashi just couldn't help but laugh. _Well I see we're getting off to a beautiful start…_ he thought as he poofed back into existence. "Well I see everyone has met our special guest." Kakashi said with overly cheery tone of voice.

Of course he received a classroom full of scowls in return. Not that it was a big deal or anything, Kakashi did factor into his lesson plan that there would be _some_ disgruntled students…with effective ways of dealing with them as well.

"Is that your dog Kakashi-sensei?" Akito asked from his spot in the front row.

"Who? Him?" Kakashi pointed at Bull, who, for the record, was looking quite smug. "Possibly." At that, half of the class shot their hands in the air hoping to ask their sensei a question. Kakashi just smiled. _Sweet, I've got their attention at least…_ Kakashi pointed to a girl on the end. "Yes?"

"What's his name?"

"His name is Bull." He pointed to the boy sitting next to her. "You there."

"Is he a special dog?"

"Well, you could say that." Kakashi replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Cause he's wearing a cape."

Kakashi chuckled lightly at the boy's observation. "I'm not quite sure that I'd call it a 'cape' per say, it's more like a body wrap." He pointed to Yokou. "Yes?"

"Why is he wearing a Kohona forehead protector?"

"Because he is a ninja of Kohona."

That answer got him a round of confused looks. More hands shot up in the air. Kakashi glanced around to room to select a student and saw Diago's hand up in the air as well. _I'm going to regret this…_ "Yes Diago?"

"He's a nin-dog isn't he?"

Kakashi hid his surprise at the tameness of the question. "You are correct Diago. Have you seen nin-dogs before?"

"No, but my father has told me a little bit about summons and what types of summons that are out there."

Kakashi nodded, "Yes, there are many types of summons and they come in all shapes and sizes." _I should have expected __Diago__ to know more than the others. His father IS a teacher after all._

Someone from the back of the classroom spoke and broke his train of thought. "Can we summon anything we want?"

"Well it doesn't quite work that way. Most of the time you have to make a blood pact with your summon, but in my case, I received a pack of pups to train into nin-dogs." Kakashi explained.

The kids started to look excitedly around the room. "You mean you have more than just one nin-dog?" the girl sitting next to Diago asked.

"Of course! If I didn't, Bull here would be quite lonely." Bull raised an eyebrow and gave Kakashi's statement an indignant snort. Kakashi chuckled again as he reached down to scratch Bull behind the ears. "Maaa…don't be that way. You know you love your pack." The bulldog gave him another snort. "Come now…you at least like Pakkun." The bulldog huffed, closed his eyes, and laid back down crossing his arms in front of him, then resting his head on his arms as if to say 'I'm done having this conversation with you.'

Akito gave Kakashi a puzzled look. "Who's Pakkun?"

Kakashi gave the boy a happy eye crinkle as he whipped a kunai out and slit his thumb. He flew through the signs and pushed his hand into the top Bull's head. After the small puff of smoke cleared, a small pug came into view.

"Did you really have to summon him on TOP of my head?" Bull muttered.

There was a resounding "WHAT?!?!?!" that boomed from his students. Diago stood up from his seat and pointed at the pug. "THAT"S supposed to be a nin-dog?"

"You got a problem with that kid?" Pakkun said in a bored tone. "Don't make me come over there and tear off an ankle."

"Hmph! I'd like to see you try."

_Ahh__ there's the __Diago__ we all know and love…_ "That's enough Diago, sit down." The boy shot Kakashi a dirty look but did as he was told. "Pakkun is my best tracker. His sense of smell is second to none."

Diago snorted. "I'm sure it is."

"Listen brat," Pakkun growled, "My nose is so good I can smell the last time you wet the bed."

Diago's face went beet red as the classroom erupted in laughter. He clenched his fists and slammed them down into the desk. "That's not funny!"

"Quiet everyone!" Kakashi hollered. He let the class settle down before speaking again. "Pakkun that wasn't very nice." _Alth__ough the little brat deserved it._"Apologize to Diago."

"I'm sorry that he wet the bed?" Pakkun said as he looked up at Kakashi with big innocent puppy eyes.

If Kakashi hadn't bit his lip he would have burst out laughing. Instead he tried his best to glare at the little pug who just so happened to mirror his own twisted personality. "No Pakkun, tell him you're sorry…and mean it."

"This is soooooo gonna cost you…" Pakkun turned around and looked at Diago. "What's your name kid?"

"Diago."

"Well then Diago, I apologize for being rude."

Diago nodded his head, his face still red with fury. "Whatever." he muttered.

Kakashi saw Yokou's hand rise and nodded to her. "Yes Yokou?"

"Are the seals that you use to summon your dogs complicated?"

"Well it depends on which dogs I'm summoning. Here, I'll write it out on the board so you guys can get a better understanding." Kakashi turned and made his way to the blackboard. Halfway there he felt something hit is flak jacket. He wiped his hand over his right shoulder and felt something squishy. _Spitwad__…_ Kakashi turned around to see Diago making no attempts to hide the fact that he was the culprit. _I see he's still pissed. Guess I'll have to give him an attitude adjustment._

Pakkun and Bull looked at Kakashi with an amused look on their faces. "Wow boss, the kid has decent aim." Pakkun pointed out.

"Hn." Kakashi said. He made eye contact with Bull and murmured "You know what to do."

He turned and made his way back to the blackboard and picked up some chalk and began writing down the hand sign sequences. He made it about halfway through the first set of signs when he felt something hit him in the back again…followed by a loud "BLERRAGH!!!!!". Kakashi just smiled and turned around to assess the damage.

Bull was happily sitting next to Diago with his tongue hanging out and was attempting to make a small wading pool on the floor with the drool off his tongue. Diago, on the other hand, looked like he had been grossed out beyond all comprehension. He had spiky hair to begin with, but now his hair had been pushed over to the left, and to Kakashi's amazement was still somewhat styled, just all the spikes were pointing towards the girl sitting next to him. Some of the thicker clumps of spikes had excess amounts of drool dripping off of them. His shirt on the left side from the shoulder up was practically soaked through with drool, and there had been a considerable amount still on the top of his head before it oozed down the front of the boy's face dripping down his eyebrow onto the scroll in front of him. _Wow…I'd totally kill for a camera right now. The grimace __on that boy's face__ is definitely a picture perfect moment._ The girl sitting next to him looked like she was going vomit. "Ewwww! You're _dripping _on me!"

"Awww…isn't that sweet. Bull apparently thought you weren't using enough spit on those spitwads of yours and decided to help you out by giving you some of his own." Kakashi smiled. "You should thank him later." _If he's smart he'll stop…__it just depends on how mad he is._

Kakashi turned back around to begin writing on the board again when he felt something hit his back once more. _Apparently he's more pissed than I thought he was._ Kakashi turned around just in time to see Diago getting a makeshift bath on the other side of his head. The left side of his head was now just as wet and he was now making a fashion statement with his new Mohawk hair style.

Kakashi looked at Diago, who now looked like he had been totally violated by an excessive amount of drool, spoke up, "Do you get the picture now?"

Diago mumbled, "Yes sensei."

"Do the rest of you get the picture now?" Kakashi said in a serious tone as he made his way around the classroom. "Shooting spitwads earns you a doggie drool bath. Simple as that. Do you all understand?"

"Yes sensei!" the class responded.

"Good…now…where was I?" Kakashi walked back up to the blackboard. He stopped just short of it and turned around. "Oh…and Diago…you may want to spend recess getting that drool out of your hair and face. You see, Bull has special nin-dog drool, and after that stuff sets for a little while it becomes like glue." The boy's eyes widened as Kakashi continued, "If it dries then you'll be in trouble, especially when it gets in your eyebrows…I've seen the hair fall right out after a few hours…"

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"You'll be happy to know that Iruka stopped by the classroom today as well. I figured he would say something to me about having the dogs in the classroom, but he didn't say a word. Hell…he actually came over to see if I was doing ok and if I needed help with anything." Kakashi scratched the back of his head and chuckled, "Of course things got kind of interesting from there…"

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_Ok…here we go. 'Say Kakashi, why don't you want to dance at the reception?' …No…too forward… '__Yo__, Kakashi, what's wrong? Can't dance?__'__...no…now I sound like an asshole… 'Hey, I saw you talking to your invisible friend at the memorial stone and I overheard that you said you can't dance worth a __shit__.'__…__not just no…but__ HELL__ no…that's crude enough for __Anko__ to say…_

Iruka had almost been to the point of stressing out over thinking of ways to bring up the subject of the dancing issue when he noticed that it was time for lunch. He ushered his kids out of the classroom before walking across the hall to talk with Kakashi. _There's no way __of_ _trying to be stealthy __about this…Bah…I'll just wing it and hopefully I won't fuck up._

"Kakashi?" Iruka said as he cautiously poked his head in the inside the classroom door.

Kakashi turned away from the window and gave Iruka a smile. "Hey Iruka. It's ok to come in. The kids are at lunch so you're not disturbing anything."

Iruka walked in and the first thing he noticed was the giant bulldog sitting in the middle of the floor with a small pug sitting on his head. Iruka looked at the pair curiously but didn't say a word. _Summons…well I guess this is what he meant._ He shrugged and walked further into the room, making a motion to lean against the desk but gave it a wary look instead. "Is your desk safe?"

"I'm going to go ask the Hokage this afternoon for new classroom furniture" Kakashi said. "After yesterday I wouldn't take any chances. Which reminds me…how's the hand?"

Iruka held the still bandaged appendage out for viewing. "It's not so bad, it's just a little sore. How's your...um…"Iruka made a small gesture to his own backside.

"My ass wound? Much better. It was bothering me last night to the point where I actually got up and started digging through my old scrolls to see if I had any healing jutsus mixed in with them," he said. "I finally came across one that helps with damaged muscles."

"Well that's good to hear, at least you're not in pain anymore."

Kakashi walked to Iruka and gently grasped his sore hand. "Hanaka-san only mended the bones?"

Iruka winced slightly at Kakashi's handling of his injured hand. "Yeah, everything else is still tender."

Kakashi began to unwrap the bandages. "I think that jutsu I learned yesterday could help, err…" he stopped for a brief moment, "You don't mind me trying to help do you?"

"Of course not!" Iruka blurted out. "Ehh I mean…"

"Maa…I know. I promise to be careful." Kakashi said as he finished unwrapping Iruka's hand. Holding the injured hand in his left, he placed his other hand over it and began to focus his chakra. Iruka watched as a soft green glow settled between his and Kakashi's hand. After about a minute or so, the pain began to die away and Iruka could feel the strength coming back to his fingers.

"I think I'm good now Kakashi." Iruka slowly pulled his hand away and began to flex his fingers. "Weird…the fingers feel kind of stiff."

"Yeah, a small side effect I'm afraid." Kakashi said. "It should be better by the time school lets out."

"Cool. Thank you." Iruka flexed his hand again. He was quite happy with the outcome of the jutsu, and he certainly didn't think that Kakashi would be nice enough to do something like this for him. _Hopefully__ I can help you out as well by teaching you how to dance…_

"How'd you know I couldn't dance?" Kakashi said in a guarded voice.

"I … uh…huh?"

"You just said you hoped to repay me back by showing me how to dance…"

_HOLY FUCK I SAID THAT OUT LOUD! _Iruka started to panic. _What the hell happened to being stealthy or at LEAST having some tact?!_ _I'm SO__OOO__ busted… if he finds out that I spied on him at__ the memorial he's __gonna__…he's __gonna__…well ok I don't know WHAT he's going to do but he's going to do SOMETHING and I don't __want him anymore upset with me than what he will be after I tell him the truth…if that makes any sense at all__…ok ok.__.don't panic…__doooooon't__ panic…come on…THINK! _"We'll you said yesterday that you'd d-drink at the wedding…b- but not dance. I…I just assumed that…well…you couldn't…I…uh…" _oh __Kami__…I'm so screwed…_

Kakashi cocked his head to one side and gave him a one-eyed confused look. After a moment, the man relaxed, "You know, you're right. I did say that."

Iruka almost passed out from relief. _Ok __Umino__…you __can breathe now__ and continue to make a fool out of yourself…_"Um yeah…so I thought I could maybe help you out…that is…if you want help."

Kakashi just stared at him for a moment. _He is offering to help…I think I'd rather go to him than the girls. They would just give me crap about it. Can't ask __Gai__…he'd make it into some weird challenge__…he'd probably suggest square dancing and then I'd be forced to kill him.__ I seriously doubt __Asuma__ would offer to help. _Kakashi mentally went through the list of jounin in his head. None of his options looked very appealing. _Um…yeah…__Iruka's__ offer looks good__ compared to who I could learn from_

"Sure, Iruka. Sounds like a plan." Kakashi finally replied. "As long as we're not going to be learning anything too difficult, I'm sure I can manage."

"Oh no…nothing like that. I'm not all that great of a dancer myself, but I can make sure you get through the reception without any problems." Iruka said. "I'm working in the mission room for the next three days, which leaves me with this weekend available. Since the wedding is next weekend anyways, we'd have enough time for you to learn what you need," he rationalized. "Does Saturday sound good to you?"

Kakashi nodded, "Sounds good to me Iruka." The door opened and Kakashi's student began to trickle inside the classroom. Kakashi gave his kids a smile. "Back already?"

"Lunch is nearly over sensei," one of the kids replied.

"Ahh, well then I'd better get going." Iruka said as he turned to make his way to the door. "Thank you again for fixing my hand."

"Once again, it's not problem Iruka."

"Hey, if you get a chance, stop by the mission room and tell me whether not you got your new furniture approved." Iruka said as he turned to leave the classroom. _What in the hell am I doing?_

"Will do." Kakashi said as Iruka made his way out of the classroom. _Hmm…maybe he can help me pick out a decent desk…_

"Ok." Iruka replied as he shut the door. He seemed to brighten at the thought of his friend coming by to see him. _Is he a friend? When in the hell did he make 'friend' status?_Iruka smiled as he turned to leave the classroom. _Might as well call him a friend…what would it hurt?_

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"Patience Obito, I'm not there yet. Besides, I was a little late making it to the Hokage tower anyways. My excuse? Well I think I have a pretty good one." Kakashi gave the memorial a smile before continuing, "Maaa…I had to see a boy about a slingshot…"

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The second half of the day started out uneventful, the kids seemed to pay attention a little more, Diago had his hair and drool issue under control and was semi-behaving, and to top it off, no one was throwing anything at Kakashi, which he thought was very nice. They were beginning to cover the first 50 shinobi codes of conduct and things were going well. He was aware of some note passing between Diago and Jin, the girl sitting next to him, and there was a small game of paper football going on between a couple of boys in the back of the class, but none of them were disturbing other students, and periodically someone out of those two groups would raise their hand to ask a question. _I can't ask for much more, considering they are acting behaved. _

Of course it didn't last long. While Kakashi was busy writing shinobi rule number 7: 'ninja must always regard their weapons as extensions of themselves' on the board, he heard the sound of snap and a small whistling noise accompanying it. Next thing he knew there was a marble embedded into the wall about 6 inches from his head at eye level. _Déjà vu…This happened yesterday did it not? _Kakashi turned around. "Who did that?"

Silence was his only answer, until Pakkun, who had taken up residency on top of Yokou's backpack under her desk said "The kid behind me and over to the left at the very back."

Kakashilooked up to see the long haired boy slumping down in his chair with a pout. "Akita Mahio, correct?"

"Hai sensei."

"Would you like to tell me why you almost put a hole through my head?"

The boy shrugged.

_I can't get into this with him __now,__ we need to cover the first ten __shinobi__ codes at least by the end of the day. _Kakashi looked back at the hole it made in the wall. _I think it was meant to startle me, which it did of course, but the downward aim he had to make considering the distance, not to mention he had to have been patient on making the shot so he really would not hurt me, but also making sure that it was too close for comfort. _Kakashi looked back at the boy. _In essence, that's one hell of a shot for a 7 year old._ "Bring me your slingshot."

The boy got up from his seat and made his way down towards his teacher. As he put the slingshot in Kakashi hand he looked down at Bull who was sleeping next to the blackboard. "Am I gonna get licked?"

Kakashi appraised the situation and made his decision. "No, you're going to stay after school. I have something special planned for you."

Mahio gave Kakashi a panicked look. "I'm in serious trouble aren't I?"

"You could say that," Kakashi replied, "now get back to your seat."

"Wait a minute!" Diago exclaimed. "Why isn't he getting a doggie drool bath?!? He broke the rules didn't he?"

"No, technically, he didn't shoot a spitwad at me, he shot a marble instead." Kakashi answered calmly.

"That's not fair!"

"I never said it was." Kakashi said. "And I suppose after this little incident, anyone throwing anything at anyone will now be subject to the now infamous 'Doggie Drool of Doom'. Understood?"

"Hai, sensei." Was the echoed response.

The rest of the day went smoothly. There were no more incidents of anything being shot, spat, lobbed, thrown, tossed, flung, or flown in Kakashi's direction, nor were there anymore disturbances whatsoever. By the time the bell rang, Kakashi was very amazed with his results for today's classes and he was giving himself a little mental pat on the back for doing such a good job. _Now, to deal with __Mahio__…this should be interesting and Tsunade will probably have my head by the time this is all said and done…but it will be worth it for this boy's future in the end._

Mahio slowly came forward to Kakashi's desk. "What's my punishment sensei?"

"First of all, is there anyone waiting for you after school? You know… someone to pick you up or anything?" Kakashi asked.

"No one picks me up."

"Ahh ok. Let's head to the gym then." Kakashi said as he dismissed Pakkun and Bull. "We're going to need some room." He grabbed the slingshot off his desk and started to walk towards the door. "You coming?" he asked looking back at the boy.

"Hai."

"Good, let's go."

As they made their way to the gym Kakashi tried to get the boy to talk. "How long have you been playing with slingshots?"

"Not very long."

"Do you practice at all?"

"No."

Kakashi's eyebrow rose at that answer. _Interesting._ "Tell me Mahio, what do your parents think about you playing with weapons like these?"

"Don't have any parents."

"So you're an orphan?"

"Duh."

Kakashi sighed. _Come on __Hatake__,you__ can't get mad at him for that. You practically asked for that smartass comment. _"Well, that shot you made in class today was very good," he said as he pushed open the doors to the gym.

The boy stopped in his tracks before walking into the gym and gave him a confused look. "Excuse me?"Kakashi leaned forward and pull the boy into the gym. He handed Mahio his slingshot back and pushed him over to a mark on the floor. "Stand there for a moment."

The school's gym had just recently gotten more funding, and now all of the walls in the gym were covered in soft plywood with 1 inch think reinforcement boards behind it. Missed kunai and shuriken would no longer mark up anymore paint jobs, and new training posts had been installed into the floor for multiple users now. A huge supply cabinet that was also purchased was sitting in the far corner of the gym where Kakashi was busily rummaging through its contents in hopes of finding what he was looking for.

_Here they are. _He grabbed a stack of paper targets and walked to the training posts. He secured one target to each post before walking back to Mahio. "I think you know what I'm going to ask you to do," Kakashi said when he reached the boy.

"You want me to hit each one of those targets?"

"Correct, but I also want you to do it from this one spot. Think you can handle that?"

"I suppose," Mahio said as he dropped his book bag on the floor and dug out a rather large sack of marbles. "You may want to find somewhere to take cover. These things may bounce everywhere."

"I'll take my chances." Kakashi replied. "You can start whenever."

The boy set himself in a relaxed stance and placed a marble in the soft leather pouch. He quickly raised his hands and shot at the first target, hitting it dead in the center.

_That was awfully fast, I'm not sure a chunnin could keep up with the speed he brought up and pulled back to make the shot. _Kakashi thought as Mahio did it again to hit the next post over. _Bull's-eye again… scratch that, I'm not sure a __jounin__ could keep up with him. _A resounding 'Thwack' noise was made as the boy hit yet another target in the center. _Yeah…if a __jounin__ could match the speed, I'd seriously doubt they could match the exact precision of his shots. _Thwack, thwack, thwack. Center, center, center. _Pure, natural talent…has to be. __Especially if he doesn't practice._

Mahio worked over all of the targets for half an hour, shredding the centers of the papers into confetti before running out of marbles. When finally did, he turned to Kakashi, "I don't see how this is punishment for almost hitting you with a marble."

"I never said it was punishment, nor did I say that I was going to punish you." Kakashi said.

"I don't understand." Mahio replied. "Are we playing a game?"

"Not exactly. I need to ask you something, but it may be a little personal. Do you mind?" The boy shook his head and Kakashi continued, "Where your parents ninja?"

"Yes, both of them were jounin. They died when I was three, so I really don't remember too much about them."

"Hmm, Mahio, has anyone ever seen you shoot before? Besides your classmates I mean."

"No sensei."

"Ok." Kakashi paused for a moment. He patted the boy on the head and looked at the boy with his eye turned upward to let him know he was smiling. "Mahio, your aim is perfect for stationary objects. With the speed you use to notch, pullback, aim and shoot is very hard to match. You have a natural talent at this."

"Yeah, but I don't see any ninja around here that use slingshots as weapons."

"Ahhh, but there are other weapons similar to a slingshot that ninja do use," Kakashi said. "The steps are the same, and combined with your basic knowledge and natural ability, you'll be able to use any of them with ease."

"Really?" Mahio began to get excited. "Which kinds of weapons are these?"

"Well, we'll go over those later. But I want to ask you something else."Kakashi saw the eagerness grow on the boy's face. "Would you be willing to come in here once a week and practice with me? If you get really good, I'll let you try out some of the weapons that shinobi use out in the field."

"Yes!" The boy almost began to bounce with happiness. "Which day do you want me to come in? And what do you want me to work on first?"

"Wednesdays if you could." Mahio bobbed his head up in down in agreement. "And we really need to work on your stance, you look like your slouching."

The boy frowned at that remark. "But you slouch too sensei," He pointed out.

Kakashi let out a laugh at the boy's observation. "You're right, I do. But, I'm not out here shooting marbles either now am I?" The boy shook his head. "Well then, we'll start with that next week. Let's get outta here alright?"

Kakashi went to go take down the targets while Mahio rounded up his marbles. After they had cleaned up the gym, they made their way towards the school's exit. "Sensei?" the boy spoke timidly before he and Kakashi parted ways.

"Yes?"

"Thank you." With that, Mahio took off running across of the schoolyard.

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"Yeah I think so too. It felt good to work with him today. Iruka is so lucky that he gets to watch kids grow and succeed. I don't know if he realizes that or not." Kakashi's eyebrow rose up. "Oh really? Well that's good that you think that Obito. He probably does, I just don't that much about him yet. Although I do know that even though he is ranked as a chunnin, he is definitely NOT a pushover…"

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"I see you're done running laps Gai." Kakashi said in a bored tone as he walked into the Hokage tower, with his precious Icha Icha Paradise in hand. Gai was already standing just inside the doorway on his way to see if his team had any new missions.

"Ahh yes I have Kakashi."Gai said. He did not dare talk in his normal tone of voice inside the tower, not after the Hokage's fists taught him how to get in touch with his 'inside voice'. "I did every last lap."

"Did you manage to kill Lee in the process?"

"Ha! Lee is a persistent, youthful student! He would not give in and he did do all of those laps with me." Gai said proudly. "I also hear that you have some very youthful students of your own now."

"I'm just helping out at the Academy. Nothing special." Kakashi replied.

"Ahh, but to be around such youth," Gai said dreamily, "You must feel happy, spirited, and youthful as they are when you are with them."

"More like cantankerous, wary, and constipated."

The appalled look on Gai's face made Kakashi chuckle. "You can't be serious!" He exclaimed as they stopped in the doorway of the mission room. Gai stepped in front of Kakashi and made him lower his book. "There must be a way to stop the unhappiness you feel when you are around youth!"

"Gai, I was kidding," Kakashi said as he pushed Gai's hand away from his book. "And don't touch my porn."

Gai gave him a frown. "They are children Kakashi, not your enemies. And I hope you're not reading your beloved novels around them. Think of what the Hokage would say!"

"Number one, obviously you've never had the absolute _pleasure_ of teaching small children, Number two, I don't read my books around them, and number three, I could care less the old lady has to say." Kakashi said.

Gai was fixing to scold Kakashi on calling Tsunade an 'old lady', but didn't have a chance because Kakashi was busy yanking him by his jounin vest out of the way of the doorframe at the same time a kunai and a small stack of papers came flying through it. By the time both Kakashi and Gai, who was now holding on to Kakashi vest for dear life as well as out of shock, turned around to see what exactly was going on, the kunai had effectively pinned the papers to the wall in a rather violent manner. _Wow that was close…_Kakashi thought as he leaned in to get a better look at what the papers were but stopped as soon as he heard a certain Academy teacher's voice.

"I don't give a rat's _ass_, about how _badly_ Anko beat you up last night, and quite frankly I think you deserve it, but your mission report is still late _and_ it looks like it was written by a three-year-old!"

"But…I"

"Seriously Genma! You wrote it in _crayon_ …" Iruka fumed.

Kakashi leaned over to get a proper look at Genma's mission report. _Wow that is bad…hmm… purple…that's festive…_

"Anko destroyed all my pens…it was all I could find…"

"I don't blame her for doing it and anything else she destroyed! You _used_ my…my…" _I swear I will not use the word '__nookie__'…._ "my '_personal __property__'_ as compensation for a bet with her!"

"Yeah but from what I understand Kakashi saved you." Genma argued.

"If you hadn't had done what you did he wouldn't have needed to!" Iruka yelled. "You put the _both_ of us in an uncomfortable situation, not to mention the fact that Anko _felt _meup in_ front _of small,impressionable _children!!!"_

"Heh…too bad I didn't get to see that…"

"_GENMA!!!_" Iruka was so livid that he grabbed Genma's senbon with Genma still chewing on it and yanked it closer so he could be face to face with him. "_GET YOUR SORRY ASS OUT OF MY SIGHT UNTIL __YOU HAVE BROUGHT ME BACK A PROPERLY FILLED OUT MISSION REPORT!"_ Iruka pushed him back away from his desk and flung another kunai at Genma's already punctured report. He slammed his hands down on his desk as he eyed the rest of the mission room, "Does anyone _else_ have a report to turn in?" No one dared to answer him and Genma slowly backed away from the mission desk. Iruka sat back down while muttering something about 'insolent ninja' and describing various ways of shoving crayons in a certain senbon sucker's orifices.

About that time Tsunade came barreling down the hall and stopped in front of the mission room when she saw Kakashi and Gai still clinging to one another. "What the hell is wrong with you two? Straighten up!" Both shinobi let each other go and began to straighten back out their clothes. "Kakashi get that filth out of my presence!"

Kakashi quickly tucked the book away, "Ehh, my bad Tsunade-sama."

She turned and snatched the two kunai out of the wall and began to read over the mission report. "Genma! What the hell is this? If you think this acceptable to turn in you are out of your mind." She flung the papers back at Genma, "I suggest you do as Iruka asks and don't bring this back until you've filled it out correctly. And use a damn pen this time!" She turned to Iruka, "Keep your kunai out of my walls, Iruka, and keep it under 80 decibels."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama." Iruka bowed his head.

Tsunade began to rant at all the shinobi that were in the vicinity."Kotesu! Izumo! Quit gawking and get back to work! Raidou! Aboa! Ibiki needs to see you both in his office…now! Genma…what the hell are you still doing here? Go and fix your report! Hatake! Get your ass in my office. Gai…go find something 'youthful' to do!"

The shinobi began to scramble in different directions. Iruka looked up from his paperwork at the sound of Kakashi name and saw the man standing in the doorway. _Oh no! __did__ he see me blow up like that?_

Kakashi saw Iruka staring and blushing at him. _Heh__, guess he wasn't expecting me to see all of that. Oh well, this makes everything so much more interesting. _"Maaa, Iruka, I'll come back later after I talk with Tsunade."

"I doubt you will brat." Tsunade interjected, "I want to know what your lesson plans are for those kids and we still have the furniture matter to discuss."

"But ...I…"

"No buts! Move it brat!"

Kakashi sighed, "I guess I'll see you tomorrow Iruka." He gave Tsunade a glare before walking down the hallway. "Ok, ok…I'm going…"

Iruka gave a slight frown at Kakashi's disappearance from the doorway. _This sucks…I'll bring him lunch tomorrow to make up for today. I'd think he'd appreciate it._

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"Yeah I know, but she did approve me getting new classroom furniture, so I can't complain too much." Kakashi said. "But Iruka…wow! He sure is a firecracker when he wants to be. No wonder he can run a classroom full of kids so easily." Pause. "Yelling isn't something that I do that often, besides it requires effort. I have my own ways of taking care of those kids." Another pause. "I'm not going to get into this with you again Obito. Just let me do it my way."

"I've gotta run anyways, I have to put up the new furniture and get ready for class. I'll see you tomorrow."


	11. Everybody was KungFu fighting

Disclaimer: I don't own Naturo...but apparrently this story is pwning me...

A/N: Yes I know I'm horribly overdue for an update. And I'm sorry this was not out sooner. College has been keeping me busy (Calculus is EVIL) so things have not been going the way I have been wanting them to go. the next chapter is actually halfway done and that update will be MUCH sooner than expected. As for everyone who has left me reviews, added this story as an alert, and has added it to their favorites list, you people are **made** of awesome and I'm honored that you all actually want faster updates. I'm also truly sorry for not messaging back everyone that has sent in a review... and I'm willing to take swats on the head for being a buttpuppet.

Here it is, live and un-beta-ed...

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_Ok, is everything moved out of the way? I wish I had a bigger apartment… hmm…we're definitely going to trip over that table... _Iruka sighed as he shoved the low table up against the couch_. There, that's better. More room now. _Iruka smiled at his work. He had managed to turn his small apartment into an improvised dance studio. He moved most of the small furniture into his bedroom and the only things that were left were the low table, a small loveseat, his favorite recliner, and his book cases. _I should dust…no wait…why would he care if I dusted? _Iruka frowned at the current argument that was going on inside his head. _I don't want him to think I live like a pig. I've never had a messy living space… I'm just not that big into dusting. Gah…why do I care what he thinks anyways? It's just Kakashi for crying out loud…_

Iruka took another look around the room while his hands fidgeted at his sides. "Damn it." He muttered as he stomped back into the kitchen. He rooted around in the cabinet under his sink until he produced a light blue feather duster from the cabinet's contents.

_This is absolutely silly…I can't believe I'm doing this… _He thought as he began to dust off one of the bookcases. He looked at the watch on his wrist momentarily and began to calculate when Kakashi was due to arrive.

_He should be here within the hour…maybe…depends on how long he and Gai get the rest of the furniture moved into the classroom. _Iruka smiled at the memory of the conversation he overheard between him and Gai before he left from the Academy on Friday.

"_**I'm not doing this Gai…and you're not even supposed to BE here…"**_

"_**But Kakashi! This is the perfect chance to test our strength and speed at the same time! You need help moving the new desks and I'm not doing anything important on Saturday morning! I challenge you that I can bring in more desks than you!"**_

"_**Gai, the only reason I'm stuck doing it on Saturday is because I didn't have time during the day today…I didn't realize that taking the kids out on my own for weapons training was going to be that…'involved'…."**_

"_**It's why I'm telling you that I have the time! Come on Kakashi…are you afraid that I will finally pull ahead in the number of wins?"**_

"_**Gai…don't go there…"**_

"_**If I don't beat you, I'll run up the Hokage Monument 400 times on my hands!"**_

"_**If you don't be quiet I'm going to throttle you with my OWN hands…"**_

"_**Now that's the spirit Kakashi! You are so hip and cool about keeping our rivalry passionate and youthful!"**_

"_**Arrrgh!"**_

Iruka chuckled quietly to himself. _Those two are something else. _Iruka worked his way around the rest of the living room and the hallway towards the bathroom. He did another quick wipe-down before going back into the kitchen to make sure it was tidy as well. After he decided that the kitchen met with his approval, he went back out into the living room and plopped down on the couch. _There...done…nothing else to do but wait…_ Iruka closed his eyes and relaxed into a meditative state. _A quick nap won't hurt anything…_ A final though passed through his mind before sleep came and settled over him.

_He'd better be grateful that I dusted…_

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Iruka woke up three hours later from the crick that was beginning to throb in his neck. He sat up began to massage out the cramped muscles. _What time is it?_ He glanced out the window and noticed that it was dark outside. _Wow…what time is it? Has it really been that long?_ Iruka took a look at his watch to confirm the time. _He's late…of course that's to be expected…guess I'll make some dinner._ He pushed himself off the couch and made his way into the kitchen. _Hmm…it would be rude of me to eat in front of him if he shows up now…and he liked the homemade ramen I made for our lunch yesterday._ Iruka sighed as he pulled out a bag of rice.

_Guess I'll make enough for the both of us…damn it...he'd better be grateful that I dusted AND cooked…_

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Two hours later, Iruka was beginning to stalk the doors and windows. The leftovers were long put away in the fridge and Iruka had already eaten and read two magazines. Now, his mind began to wander on where the copy-nin was. _Where is he? I've known him to be late but not this late._ Iruka looked at his watch and frowned. _If he wasn't going to show, one would think that he would at least tell me. Maybe he got an urgent mission? No…that can't be it…he's teaching at the Academy…they wouldn't give him a mission since he's technically on one._ _Maybe he lost against Gai and he's running up the Hokage Monument on his hands?_ Iruka felt a smile grow across his face at the thought. _That would be interesting to see…but I don't think that's how their challenges work… _Iruka glanced at his watch again in frustration… _maybe he forgot?_

Iruka narrowed his eyebrows at the thought. _That's got to be it. _He quickly made his way to the door to retrieve his sandals. _I don't think it would be considered rude if I showed up at his apartment…I mean…he was supposed to be here hours ago,_ he rationalized._ I believe making a house call is justified._

He let himself out of the apartment and began to make his way towards the jounin complex all the while thinking of what Kakashi was going to say or do when Iruka showed up on his doorstep. _Damn him…he'd better have one hell of an excuse…and if he tells me that he was 'rescuing little old ladies from a rabid gophers' I'm soooo going to….um…I'm going to…well…crap…_ Iruka frowned as he tried to think of a fitting punishment._ Hrmph…I'll just tell him off and tell him that he had better find someone else to teach him how to dance. _Iruka's eyebrow twitched slightly at the thought of the potential repercussions. _Of course he'll try to talk me into doing it anyways…_

Making his way through the village, he began once again reflect back on the past week's events. He had found himself thinking about the mysterious substitute teacher quite frequently, and Iruka was not sure if he should be upset with himself for doing so. He blamed much of it on the current guilt trip that he was on concerning the copy-nin, but there was a little bit of curiosity about what made Kakashi 'tick' on Iruka's part. _Morbid curiosity at that…_he mused. _He's always acting so aloof and…what's the word I'm looking for…'apathetic'…gah! How can someone just act so cool towards…_ Iruka stopped dead in his tracks as a horrific look came across his face. _Holy crap I just DID NOT sound like Gai just then…._He blinked and shuddered at that very notion. _Ok_…_that's it…I'm going to find a way to get Gai BANNED from the academy grounds…._

Iruka finally made his way to jounin complex. _Third floor…second door from the end…I think…bah…this is one of those times where I wished I had paid more attention to Naruto's ramen-induced ramblings…_ Iruka thought as he climbed his way up to the third floor. _Ummm…left or right? Bleh…I'll try left first…_ Iruka made his was down the hall until he reached what he presumed to be Kakashi's apartment door. He raised his fist in order to bang on the door but stopped short when he noticed that the door was not only unlocked but cracked open as well.

_Should I go in? No…that would be rude…_ Iruka lowered his hand and stared at the doorknob. _Why would the door be open? No ninja in their right mind would leave their apartment unlocked much less leave their front door opened…unless it's a trap… _

"Kai!" Iruka said as he slapped his hands together. He opened his eyes to see that nothing had changed and the door was still in its current position. _Not a genjitsu trap…maybe he just forgot to close the door? Well I say 'he'…I mean if this is really Kakashi's apartment and all…_ Iruka scratched his facial scar in frustration. _This is going to drive me nuts…_ he whipped out a kunai and took a defensive stance, _Ok…I'm going in…this is totally going against my rational judgment to enter another shinobi's home unannounced…but damn it…_ Iruka gently pushed the door open. _If I die I'll somehow blame this on Kakashi…_

The door gently swung open and the room in front of Iruka was lit up with the overhead light that was behind him in the hallway. Iruka's eyes adjusted to the darkened room and he began to focus on a large object in the middle of the floor. He pushed to door open just a little more to be able to manipulate the light from the outside to cast itself on to whatever the object was. Iruka squinted and then began to feel sick when his eyes finally registered to what they were seeing. It was a body, slumped over and not in a comfortable way. The shoulders were being forcefully pushed into the hard wooden flooring by the rest of the weight of the body, which was also putting quite a strain on the body's neck. There was a Kohona forehead protector hanging just to the right of the person's head with the knot of the headband still tangled into its owner's gray hair.

_Wait? Gray hair? _Iruka rushed forward and grabbed the person's shoulders and pushed their body upright. Brown eyes met a set of mismatched ones, one gray, unfocused, and cloudy-looking while the other was a mess of black and red. "Kakashi!" Iruka shook the other man in attempts of trying to get him regain consciousness, "Kakashi!...KAKASHI! Can you hear me?!" The urge to panic began to seep into Iruka's mind as he realized that Kakashi was actually unconscious but disturbingly enough, his eyes were also open.

Suddenly, gurgled moans of pain seeped from the other man's lips. _Was he attacked?_ Iruka forced himself to stand and pull Kakashi into a semi standing position along with him. He cautiously ran his hands over the other man's body in attempts to find any damage or bleeding. _Ok...ok...calm down…he isn't bleeding…nothing seems broken…what the hell happened? _"Kakashi!...Damn you…I need you to answer me!" Iruka took a hold of the other man's face and tried to get the older man to focus on him, but stopped short when he saw that Kakashi's Sharingan eye was slightly bleeding. Iruka carefully pushed the eyelid back so he could get a better look. Iruka knew what an Uchiha eye looked like when fully activated, but something was seriously wrong with the pupil in Kakashi's eye. The tomoes looked like they were separating away from the pupil instead of circling around it. _Something is wrong…dangerously wrong…_

Iruka hauled Kakashi all the way to his feet and leaned the other man against him while he put arms around Kakashi's body for support. His hands flashed through the signs for the teleportation jutsu and whisked both himself and an unconscious Kakashi to the Kohona Hospital.

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"I need Tsunade NOW!!" Iruka screamed when he poofed into the lobby. He staggered forward dragging Kakashi to the receptionist's window and banged on the glass partition. "It's an emergency!"

An older, short, burly woman came around the corner and saw the young ninja freaking out in front of her desk. "Calm down Umino-sensei," the receptionist said as she slid the partition back, "Tsunade-sama is currently on the fifth floor doing her rounds."

"Well I need her here!"

The nurse frowned, raised an eyebrow, and in a no-nonsense tone of voice she asked, "What exactly is your emergency Umino-sensei?"

Iruka spun Kakashi's body around to physically emphasize why he needed the Hokage, "This man needs medical attention immediately!"

"Ahhh… Hatake-san….again…." The receptionist rolled her eyes and gave Iruka an unimpressed look. "Well, you can go sit with him over there in the waiting room," She said as she pointed to the room at the end of the hallway.

Iruka gave the woman an incredulous look. "Are you freaking serious?!" he screamed. Without missing a beat, the receptionist pulled out a clipboard and began to drawl through what sounded like an overly-practiced speech. "Here, I'll need you to fill this out on his behalf. I'll page Tsunade-sama here shortly. And don't worry about the insurance part…we already have that on file and since he's already met his premium for this year's expenses it's not really an issue. Just fill out what you can if you could, and he never fills out the forms properly anyways so hopefully you'll do a better job." she said before placing the clipboard on the little counter and shutting the sliding glass door back into its proper position.

Iruka just stood and stared at the little window. _What the HELL?! Is she kidding?_ The receptionist looked back up from her paperwork, gave Iruka a patronizing smile, and made a hand motion for him to go to the end of the hall. She then promptly pulled a cord and a set of blinds lowered down between her and the glass sliding door.

At that moment, Iruka felt a wave of anger wash over him and in his clouded state of thought, acted on impulse and stuck his tongue out at the hidden receptionist and proceeded to follow up that action with a lewder one by shooting her the finger. Feeling somewhat satisfied, he then shifted Kakashi to one side and began to drag him down the hallway. _What a bitch…_ he thought as he entered the waiting room. He noticed that he had the room all to himself and chose to sit close to the open window in hopes that the fresh air would do Kakashi some good. He gently eased Kakashi down into a chair next to the window and sat next to him, pulling the unconscious man into him for support. Iruka gently brushed back some Kakashi's hair so the unruly strands wouldn't come in contact with his injured eye. _Please be ok…_he thought silently as he watched the other man breathe into his shirt.

His gaze shifted away from the masked ninja to the clipboard lying in his lap. Scowling at the offending object, he had a naughty thought cross his mind. _So he never fills them out properly eh? Who says that I'll fill this out any better? _Iruka grinned evilly at the paperwork. _I'll be MORE than happy to fill it out…especially if she is the one that is going to be reading it._

Iruka smiled to himself as he looked at the information needed and had another thought cross his mind. _Hmmm….What would Kakashi do?_

**Name: Hatake Kakashi**

**Age: Younger than you…although I'm assuming that most of the population of Kohona is as well.**

**Height: Tall.**

**Weight: Less than you.**

**Blood type: The red kind.**

**Sex: Whenever possible.**

**Residential Address: 6969 Blowme Way. Kohona Village, Fire Country.**

Iruka appraised his answers and found them to be completely immature…exactly what he was aiming for. _She's going to be pissed…bah… who cares? _Iruka noticed that his arm was beginning to go numb from Kakashi's added weight pressing against his side. Iruka moved the clipboard and cautiously shifted the man to a more comfortable position for the both of them. Kakashi let another small whimper fall from his lips when Iruka finally settled back into his chair. Iruka frowned and started to mentally panic again. _I've never seen him this weak… damn it….where is Tsunade? _Iruka looked down at the top of Kakashi's head and entertained the thought of getting up and harassing the gorilla woman at the desk again. _I don't want to leave him unsupervised..._

"Unnngh…wergh….mmmm…iii…." Kakashi moaned out. Iruka clutched his body closer to his own in attempts to pacify the copy-nin.

"Kakashi? Kakashi can you hear me?" All Iruka got was a gurgled response. "Hang on Kakashi, were at the hospital now and as soon as Tsunade-sama comes we will get you all the medical help you need…."

"Is the brat still alive?" said a voice from the doorway. Iruka looked up and saw the Hokage leaning against the frame.

"He needs help! That _person_ that you call a receptionist wasn't very nice and she acted as if she didn't give a damn whether or not he lived or died!" Iruka heard his own voice rise in anger, but he couldn't control it. "I found him in his apartment slumped over. There is something wrong with his Sharingan!"

"Do what?!" Tsunade crossed the room hurriedly, "Why didn't you say that when you first brought him in?" she asked while forcing Kakashi's eyelid open to get a better look.

"I doubt it would have mattered! That nurse was a complete bi-…" Tsunade gave him guarded look and Iruka chose to change his adjective for the evil receptionist, "not polite person." he finished lamely.

Tsunade gently pried open Kakashi's eyelid. "Iruka," she said, "This had not better be a joke. There is nothing wrong with his eye."

Iruka gave Tsunade a puzzled look before peering over her shoulder to look at Kakashi's eye again. He shook his head in disbelief, "I swear, Tsunade-sama, there was something wrong with the way the tomoes appeared."

"Hmmm, I know this will sound odd, but is there any way that you can make a sketch of what you saw?" Tsunade asked while handing him her note pad.

Iruka nodded as he took the pen and pad of paper and began to draw while Tsunade began to quickly check some of Kakashi's vitals. "Where did you find the brat?" Tsunade asked.

"At his apartment."

Tsunade raised her eyebrows in amusement. "You went to Kakashi's apartment? Do you mind me asking why?"

Iruka looked up from his drawing, realizing that he wasn't expecting her to be nosey about what her ninja were doing in their off-hours. "He was really late for our…um… 'meeting' … so I assumed he had forgotten about it. I took it upon myself to go remind him and that's when I found his door cracked open and his body on the floor." Iruka hoped that his explanation was enough to satisfy her curiosity.

"Ohhhhh really? How _interesting_…" Tsunade replied and Iruka caught the obvious and suggestive tone in her voice. Tsunade couldn't help but giggle at the sight of the chunnin's face and ears turn a slight shade of red. "What's wrong Iruka? Why all the blushing?"

Iruka groaned. "The way you spoke just now…it just…made my actions sound…_dirty_..."

"Well you are the one who is being kind of secretive about this apparent 'meeting' with the Hatake brat, and when I came into the waiting room you two did look a little cozy…"

"It's not like that!" Iruka roared, his blush now going full tilt. "I was just trying to make him comfortable!"

Tsunade grinned. "Hmmm…Genma is right…you are fun to get riled up."

Iruka just glared at her as ripped his sketch from the pad. "Back to the original problem at hand, Tsunade-sama, this is what his eye looked like."

Tsunade shot him one last smirk before looking at Iruka's drawing. She furrowed her eyebrows and tilted the sketch back and forth. "Impossible…" she muttered.

"The tomoes weren't around the pupil and his entire eye looked like a mess." Iruka added as Tsunade continued to study the piece of paper.

"Are you sure this is what you saw?"

"Of course Tsunade-sama. Actually before you came in he was mumbling something…"

"That doesn't surprise me. He's forcing himself to come around. I've dealt with the brat long enough to know how he is." Tsunade replied with a hint of concern in her voice. "Unfortunately, he's definitely in a lot of pain…no doubt about that. I'm going to get a gurney, so stay here with him until I get back." Tsunade said as she strode out of the waiting room.

Iruka looked back to Kakashi. _That just looks painful to be slumped over like that. _He went to push Kakashi's body up into a more comfortable position, but the second his hands touched the other man's shoulders, a pair of pale hands snapped up and took a hold of his wrists. Iruka, as startled as he was, knew not to make any sudden movements while Kakashi slowly raised his head and gave the chunnin a drunken glare. Iruka waited patiently as Kakashi shifted his eyes around trying to take in his surroundings. He looked back up to Iruka, silently asking for an explanation.

"I…uh…found you in your apartment. I thought you had been attacked, so I took you to the hospital." Iruka said calmly. "Tsunade will be back shortly with a gurney…"

"There's no need…" Kakashi said groggily as his hands tightened around Iruka's wrists, "We need to go…"

"I…I…uh…" Iruka winced from the pain that was beginning to shoot up his arms. "I don't think that's a good idea Kakashi-san. We should really wait…"

"It's a little late for the honorifics, _sensei_, and I'd rather not be here." Kakashi's was slowly losing its gravelly tone as the copy-nin became more aware of what was going on. "I want to leave…"

"Sorry brat, not possible." Tsunade said as she walked in pulling a bed behind her. She patted the cushion, "Come on and hop on up here."

"I'm fine."

"I can see that," Tsunade said calmly, "But I want to make sure. Besides, you have some explaining to do, and you can do that while I'm x-raying Iruka's wrists since you seem to be so intent on breaking them…"

Kakashi looked to where his hands were and quickly released Iruka's wrists immediately. _I didn't even notice I had a hold of him._"I…uh…" Kakashi shot Iruka an apologetic look and then averted his eyes to the floor. Iruka could have sworn that the older man was moping, but Kakashi also made no move to relocate to the rolling bed.

"Don't worry about it Kakashi, my wrists are fine. Just get on the bed so Tsunade-sama can check you out." Iruka said as he rubbed the feeling back into his fingers.

Kakashi began to glance nervously around the room and when his eyes finally took in the sight of the gurney, he sighed and just shook his head. _I'd better get this over with now, my head already hurts and really don't want to deal with Tsunade's temper. _Kakashi gave Iruka a guilty look before climbing onto the bed. "I… I…I didn't mean to hurt you Iruka…"

"I said don't worry about it." Iruka gave Kakashi a warm smile. He wasn't mad at him for grabbing him like he did and he knew that the years of training that were ingrained into Kakashi's skull made him act on impulse. He turned to Tsunade, "So which floor are we going to go to?"

Tsunade raised her eyebrow at Iruka's question. "To the sixth floor. Why? Planning on staying with the Hatake brat?"

"Well, I mean…uh…if he doesn't mind." Iruka said nervously as he looked to Kakashi for his approval.

Kakashi slowly nodded his head in agreement. "I want him to stay, and I want to get this over with." He said quietly.

"Fine, whatever. Iruka, you're pushing his troublesome-ass to the elevators though." Tsunade said.

"That's ok." Iruka reached to grab the clipboard and then positioned himself behind the bed and began to push. "I do need to stop by the receptionist's window…I have to turn in some paperwork for Kakashi…"

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After two hours of Tsunade's overly thorough exam, along with a long-winded bitching session about the dangers of forced Sharingan manipulation and a lecture from the head of the nursing staff (a.k.a. Gorilla Woman) on properly filling out required hospital forms, both Kakashi and Iruka found themselves trudging home at 3 in the morning.

"I'm really sorry about today, Iruka," Kakashi said as they walked down the sidewalk. "I should have come to your house first before going home and training with the Mangekyo. It was really reckless of me, not to mention the fact that it probably scared the hell out of you."

"I wasn't sacred per say, more like caught off guard." Iruka replied. "Tsunade sure was pissed though. Why did you keep this a secret? I thought a jutsu like that had to be approved by the council or the Hokage."

"Personally I don't think Tsunade was half as pissed as Miko-san," Kakashi chuckled. "I'll give you credit for going up against the scariest nurse there. Although in your defense, she normally doesn't work the receptionist area."

"Yeah…well… she was a bitch." Iruka muttered.

"It's her specialty."

"Obviously," Iruka replied, "So why did you hide your new Sharingan?"

"I didn't hide it. I just kept forgetting to bring it up." Kakashi gave Iruka a smug eye-crinkle.

"Bullshit."

"Maaa…Iruka, such language," Kakashi gave Iruka a gentle nudge with his elbow, which in turn, Iruka gave him a pouty look. "Do you really think the elders would allow me to use this jutsu if they knew about it? What about the fact that I can work with my Sharingan to even use it at that level? They would exploit this, and then if a situation happens where I use it and things turn out badly, they will just label the jutsu as forbidden technique and pass the buck. I'd prefer if they just didn't know."

"Well Tsunade knows now," Iruka said. "Won't she tell the council?"

"Nope, she bickers enough with them as it is. I really should have told her that I was training with the Mangekyo, but to be honest, there was never really a decent time for us to sit down and discuss it." Kakashi explained.

"Well, I won't say anything." Iruka said. "And maybe you should just get someone to…I don't know…spot you when you practice with that."

"After tonight, that may be a good idea." Kakashi agreed. "Hey, are you hungry? I haven't eaten since this…well…yesterday morning."

"I am a little, and I have food at my house." Iruka said. "I made enough for the both of us earlier while I was waiting on you."

"Ahhh, I see." Kakashi rubbed the back of his head and gave Iruka another sheepish look. "I truly am sorry, and I really hope you'll still teach me how to dance."

"Of course I'll still teach you. Now come on, let's get some food in you."

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After eating, Kakashi's headache disappeared and he seemed to get some renewed energy. He leaned forward to stretch his muscles before getting up and moving to the living room. "Ok I'm good to go. Are you sure you have the energy to do this?"

"Oh yeah, I still have a little bit of energy left…I also forgot to mention that I took a 3 hour nap while I waited on you."

"Maaa….again…my bad…"

"No worries," Iruka said as he popped a CD into the stereo. "Let's just try to teach you as much as possible before I really do pass out."

"Ok, what do you want me to do?"

"Stand up straight, put this hand on my waist, and hold my hand up like this with your other hand." Iruka instructed while putting Kakashi's hands in the correct places. He leaned over and pressed the play button and a slow, melodious tune began to flow out of the speakers.

"Ok now," Iruka continued on, "Move your feet from side to side like this." Iruka began to lead Kakashi around the room at a slow pace. "This doesn't need to be fancy or anything, just enough to get you through half a song before Asuma cuts in."

"Cuts in?"

"It's part of the tradition."

"Oh." Kakashi replied. "You know," he said "This is a lot easier than the last time I did this. It's kind of easy."

"That's because you're looking at your feet. You need to look up at me."

"If I do that I'm going to step on your toes."

"I'll take my chances," Iruka said, "You can't look at your feet the entire time while you're dancing."

"Why not?"

"Well, then everyone will know that you really can't dance." Iruka explained. "I thought that this fact alone was the entire purpose for me teaching you."

"I know," Kakashi frowned, "I'd just rather learn how to do this _without_ breaking your toes."

"Look at me." Iruka said. Kakashi looked at Iruka for a split second before turning his gaze back down to his feet. Iruka sighed, "Come on Kakashi, just do it."

The copy-nin began to sweat as he slowly lifted his gaze to meet Iruka's eyes._ Come on, I know over a thousand jutsu, can smell enemies from miles away, have hours of field experience, I KNOW I can master dancing. _Kakashi smiled inwardly. _I'm doing good as long as I don't…_

"Ow!"

_Do that…_

"It's fine! I'm ok!" Iruka said rubbing his foot. "We're going to continue."

_Ok...even though I am Sharingan Kakashi, I am allowed to suck at some things in life. Dancing is now officially classified as one of those things._"Maybe I should just go tell Kurenai to find someone else to take my spot." Kakashi said forlornly. "I've caused you too much trouble already."

"No you haven't!" Iruka exclaimed. "It's ok! You've only stepped on my foot once!"

"Yeah and we've only been dancing for about 5 minutes."

"You probably won't even dance with Kurenai that long!" Iruka argued. "Now come on, don't give up."

Kakashi shook his head. "Iruka, today I've made you wait for hours, carry me to the hospital, put up with monster nurses, cook me food, and make an honest attempt to teach me something new, not to mention that I've also managed to bruise your wrists and now your left foot in the process." Kakashi sighed as he put his hands in his pockets. "I think I've done enough to you today and it's time for me to leave." As Kakashi turned to make his way to the front door, Iruka's hand reached out and grabbed his shirt.

Iruka gave Kakashi a pleading look, "Please," he said in a quiet voice, "Just one more time."

Kakashi turned around and saw the look on Iruka's face. "Why?" Kakashi asked just as quietly. "Why are you doing this for me?"

Iruka knew at that moment there seemed like there were more answers to that question than he was willing to admit. The memories of Kakashi interacting with his students, his hospitality at the ramen bar, and his lonely conversations at the memorial stone were all flooding into Iruka's mind. He suddenly realized that within the course of just a week's time, he had actually changed his thoughts about the jounin. Iruka liked this man and even though the guilt was still there, there was a new reason that had been developing over the past week seemed to be the most appropriate answer.

"Because, Kakashi, I want to help you and I want to be your friend. This is what friends do, they help each other."

Kakashi looked into Iruka's face looking for the slightest sign of dishonesty. He couldn't make any mistakes now, especially after someone just admitted to him that they actually wanted to be his friend, a _real _friend at that. _I want to be his friend as well, but I'd just rather not have to learn how to dance in the process…_ "Iruka, I just don't think that this is going to work out…"

The chunnin let go of Kakashi's shirt and stared at the floor. _He rejected my offer for me to be his friend? _Anger overtook him as he heard Kakashi talk, but his mind was too clouded to listen. _That BASTARD! Play with my emotions? Screw you Hatake…_

"I mean you understand right? I just can't get the steps down…errr…Iruka?" Kakashi tried to get the chunnin's attention. "Iruka…hello?"

Just then Iruka's head shot up, eyes glaring, as his hands flew to his kunai pouch. Kakashi's eye widened in shock as he watched his new 'friend' pull out three kunai and throw the knives in his direction with the speed only attainable from an ANBU operative. _What the fuck_? was his only thought as he dove under the low table for cover. _I thought he wanted to be my friend? I just don't want to learn how to dance is all!_

"Bastard! I let myself think that you were a nice guy, but in the end you really are a self-centered ass!" Iruka screamed as he snagged his shuriken pouch from one of the bookcases and dug out a healthy handful of pointy objects. "And then have the audacity to stand in my _CLEAN_ house and _TELL_ me that you don't want my friendship…"

"No wait! That's not what I meant!" Kakashi tried to fend off the next round of shuriken with words but wound up having to flip the low table over on its side in order for protection instead. "I WANT to be your friend! This is a misunderstanding!"

"Grrrraaah!" Iruka lunged for the table and yanked out of Kakashi's grip. _Holy crap I'm gonna die by the hands of a pissy chunnin…_ Kakashi thought to himself. _And what's really screwed up is that I'm not even defending myself…do I want his friendship that badly?_ Kakashi felt himself being hauled to his feet. _I really do like him…and I need to get him to listen._ Kakashi quickly grabbed Iruka by the arms and spun him around. "I WANT to be your friend, damn it! Just calm down!"

Iruka paused for a moment before twisting out Kakashi's grasp and grabbing hold of Kakashi's arms in return. _Wait, he wants to be my friend?_ was Iruka's next thought as he quickly spun the copy-nin around and pinned him against the wall. _Shit…don't tell me that I've made another mistake. _Kakashi quickly brought his arms up and twisted them breaking Iruka's hold. Iruka put his arms up to defend himself as well. _I have got to be the stupidest chunnin alive,_ he thought as Kakashi rushed forward to push Iruka away from him. Iruka slid to the side and jumped forward to start a series of punches. Kakashi stepped back and began to block and punch as well. _I can't believe that I'm actually keeping up with him, wait…WHY am I still fighting him?_ Iruka stepped back to block a well-aimed punch for his stomach. _Apparently because I'm too dumb to stop and admit that I was wrong. _

Kakashi blocked a vicious left hook meant for his head. "I was talking about me dancing! I don't think that it's going to work out! Why would you think that I wouldn't want to be friends with you?!" He asked between blocks. _Note to self: Ask Tsunade WHY he isn't a jounin. Hmmm…scratch that…that could possibly make him even madder because I didn't ask him directly. _He sidestepped another couple of punches and then stepped forward with his own attacks. _I'll ask him myself later….MUCH later….like when he's not trying to take my head off…_

As Iruka blocked and punched, he began to rewind the conversation in his mind. _All he said was that he didn't think that this was going to work out…when did he say anything about dancing? Wait…what did he say after that? _Iruka realized that he had jumped the gun with the comversation._ Ahhh…crap…way to go Iruka. Getting pissed off and then attacking the guy that you want to be your friend is the PERFECT way to get him to like you._ He sidestepped another punch to the stomach while blocking the punch that was aimed for his ribs. _I didn't listen, acted on impulse, and proceeded to try to kick someone's ass that is stronger and faster than me. Congratulations Iruka, you have finally acquired the same social graces as NARUTO. _Iruka stepped back and threw a few more punches. _I need to stop this, before he does hurt me because I know he's holding back. I'm pretty tired as well, if I make a mistake then he might accidentally hurt me and THEN I'll never be able to be friends with him. _Iruka watched as Kakashi set himself up for another series of taijutsu punches. All of a sudden, Iruka was struck with a brilliant idea.

Kakashi lunged forward and attempted to try a double punch, but instead of ducking and blocking, Iruka caught both of Kakashi's fists. Kakashi's eye widened in shock and tried to break out of the death grip Iruka had on him. Twisting wasn't working so he tried to pull out of hold instead. Iruka still did not let go and began to advance on him. _What the hell?_ Kakashi thought. _I don't want to kick or knee him, I'll hurt him if I do._ All of a sudden Kakashi felt himself being pulled around the room. He tried to move his hands but Iruka just held on tighter and changed whichever direction he was going whenever Kakashi tried to break free. All the jounin could do was try to stay with him and try to break his grasp, and possibly talk his way out of this.

"Iruka, what the hell are you doing?"

_Saving face…_ Iruka thought to himself. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"I have no clue but you're killing my knuckles."

"Well then how about if I do this then?" Iruka said as he gently let twisted his and Kakashi's hands together until they faced palm to palm.

"Well, yes, that is better," Kakashi said, "But I'm still confused about what you are doing…"

"Just dancing with a friend, that's all."

Kakashi's eye widened in shock (for the third time that night/morning) and in realization of what they were actually doing. _Wait…when did I start…uhhh...ok ok…don't look down…_

"Don't think about every little movement, just go with it." Iruka explained. "It's the easiest way I know how to dance."

Kakashi felt Iruka's movements and began to relax as he followed the other man's pace. "You know, maybe if you had given that advice from the start, I might not have stepped on your foot to begin with."

"And maybe if you hadn't have tried to give up so easily, I wouldn't have gotten mad at you." Iruka said.

"Hmm, touché, and I do have a question that pertains to that subject," Kakashi said, "I'm not an expert at friendship or anything, but is that how real friends fight?"

"Well, it depends."

"On what?"'

"On what friends fight about." Iruka said. _Or what friends fight for, because I was actually fighting for your friendship._ "Although I promise I won't throw any more sharp objects at you. I was just really upset." _Ohhh...get over it and just suck it up and apologize…_ "I'm sorry, I didn't hear everything you said and I jumped to conclusions. I assumed that you didn't want to be friends with me and I was completely in the wrong."

"It's ok and all is forgiven. And I apologize for not being clearer. I'm not real up-to-date with the whole 'friends' thing, but I do want to be friends with you Iruka, and apparently if I have to fight and dance with you in order to do so, then I suppose I am at your mercy." Kakashi said and gave him a happy eye crinkle.

Iruka laughed. "Yeah, nothing says friendship more than flying kunai and dancing."

Kakashi laughed along with Iruka. _Being friends with this guy is going to be different, but I'm going to do my best, _he thought as he spun Iruka around the room. _He managed to surprise me three times tonight, which is practically unheard of, AND I've learned how to dance. Albeit through a weird, twisted, roundabout way, but who cares? I like him._

"There you go, now you're leading. You're doing a really good job Kakashi."

"Well I had a good teacher."

"Oh whatever!" Iruka exclaimed as Kakashi spun him around again. _Being friends with Kakashi, hmmm, this is going to be tougher than I thought, and he makes me think too much. I can't believe I get so upset over thinking that he didn't want to be my friend. I've never done that before. _Iruka gave Kakashi, his new friend, the biggest smile he could muster.

Kakashi smiled back, and although it was hidden, Iruka could see the edges of the mask pull up. "By the way, I really like your apartment. It looks great." the copy-nin added.

Iruka just shook his head and blushed_. Things are going to be interesting with you Kakashi…._


	12. When in Doubt, Blame a woman

Disclaimer: I still don't own any characters from Naruto, or make any money from this…which is a shame…I have college loans to pay off…..

A/N: Thanks once again for the lovely reviews. You guys rock! And yes I know…I epically FAIL at updating…

And now…back to our boys…

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**One week later…**

"DIAGO! Get back here NOW!"

"Yelling isn't going to do any good! You're going to have to cut him off at the end of the sidewalk!" A breathless Iruka managed to gasp out as he sprinted alongside Kakashi, who was currently chasing just one small boy…_Who is going to have detention for the next month…_

One small, troublesome boy…_Screw that…he's going to have detention until I'm dead._

One small, fast, troublesome boy who had been sneaking out of the classroom ALL week long… _Hmmm I wonder if I can come out of retirement from ANBU…_

One small troublesome boy who was just recently responsible for setting off two boxes of firecrackers outside Iruka-sensei's classroom door…_S-class missions are easier than this…I totally could be killing something right now…_

"Quick Kakashi! Before he reaches the park!" Iruka hollered.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Kakashi said as he released his chakra into two more copies of himself. His other two copies dashed forward and then split in different directions to surround the boy. Diago was running as fast as his little legs could carry him, but he wasn't quick enough to make all the way to the trees. The clone on the left dropped down to block his path while the clone on the right swooped in and tackled the boy to the ground. Iruka has also managed to muster up a couple of kage bunshins to assist the masked ninja's clones just in case.

"Wow Sensei! It only took you half an hour to catch me this time! You're improving!" Diago told the clones from his horizontal position on the ground. The boy's grin could have split his face in two. Two furious ninja came barreling down on the dog pile of bodies and Kakashi reached down to grab a hold of Diago's arm before releasing the clones. "I'm glad you are enjoying yourself," Kakashi said sternly, "because you've disrupted class for the last time this week!"

"You're right Sensei, I have." Diago admitted, "And now it really is the last time for this week because it 4:00 pm on a Friday and it's time for school to be dismissed." The boy's grin grew wider at his well-planned escape route. Unfortunately, Iruka was not so forgiving about the whole situation.

"Well unfortunately for you, Diago, your hours here have increased." Iruka said sternly as Diago's eyes grew wide in shock. "You may have evaded Kakashi-sensei all week with your nonsense, but now you're going to have to deal with ME."

"Um…I'm sorry and I won't do it again?" Diago offered up as an apology.

"I don't think so." Iruka took the boy from Kakashi's grasp and turned him over to his clones. "Take him to my classroom." The doppelgangers nodded and before they hauled the boy away, Iruka gave the him one last warning, "Oh and Diago, if you do anything silly, like trying to attack my clones to make them vanish, I'll personally see that you will mowing the lawns at the academy with a pair of safety scissors." The boy's eyes took on an owlish-like appearance as he walked willingly with the pair of clone Irukas.

"Wow, safety scissors? Are you serious?" Kakashi asked incredulously.

"We haven't had a janitor or groundskeeper for years," Iruka said. "Fortunately, there are enough kids that get into trouble that can handle those chores. The funds saved from not having those employee openings can be spent on other things. How do you think our new gym was built?"

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head in frustration. "I guess I'll know how to punish them now."

Iruka smiled warmly at the agitated sensei. "They have been really working you over this week haven't they?"

"Yeah, I think I've taken a step backward somehow." Kakashi admitted. "Well, at least where Diago is concerned."

"No word about his father yet?"

"None." Kakashi sighed. "I know that has a lot to do with it. But I'm not sure on how to talk with him about it."

"If you'd like, I can try to get him to open up." Iruka said. "This isn't the first time I've seen young students act out because the loss of a parent."

"I appreciate that, but I think in this case I need to be the one that deals with him." Kakashi said. Iruka gave him a sad frown but Kakashi playfully nudged the chunnin in the ribs to help dissolve Iruka's sour face, "Besides, you're doing a lot for me as it is. Without you, a herd of pre-genin would have me completely at their mercy."

"Hmmm, that just might be true," Iruka gave the copy-nin a small smirk. "So are you ready for tomorrow?"

"What's tomorrow?"

Iruka scowled "You known damn good and well what's going on tomorrow… and if you have forgotten by now I'm totally not getting in Kurenai's way of her kicking your ass."

Kakashi just laughed. "Yes I know, the wedding is tomorrow. I'd rather die in battle, a shinobi's way of leaving this world rather than at the hands of an overly hormonal and pissed-off kunoichi."

"You'd just better be there, and on time too." Iruka replied. "I don't want to have to listen to a pre-meditated murder being planned out. Plus Anko will be there…and we both know things could get a little…out of control…"

"Don't worry, I'll be there." Kakashi reassured his friend. "Come on, let's get back to the school before we lose any more students."

"Alright." Iruka agreed. "Remember Kakashi…don't be late…"

"Aww come on Iruka. Me…late? Never…."

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_Crap crap crap! I'm going to be late! _Kakashi's brain screamed as he hurled himself from one rooftop to the next. _Kurenai is going to KILL me! Well, maybe not kill…but there will definitely be some intentional maiming though… _Kakashi forced more chakra into his legs at the thought of Asuma's soon-to-be bride in the throes of a murderous rage. The bottoms of his feet were slowly becoming numb and he would have worn his regulation jounin sandals, but they did not collaborate well with his formal yukata. Instead, he had to make do with his formal sandals, but unfortunately sprinting and leaping in formal footwear was definitely not Kakashi's forte. He quickly came to that realization when he first leapt from the top of his apartment building and attempted to make feet-to-roof contact with the next building over.

'Attempted' being the key word…

Thank Kami no one saw him collide face-first into the side of the building in a very un-shinobi-like manner. Apparently jumping and running in clogs seemed to be a sannin-level form of taijutsu, and he'd have to speak with Jiraiya about it at a later time. After picking himself off the ground and quickly doing a vector-analysis check (haughty jounin words for 'I fucked up…did anyone see?'), he decided to remove the death-traps from his feet and start off towards the temple barefoot.

_Stupid shoes…stupid clothes…stupid wedding…bleh… at least Iruka will be there…Oh Kami!_ Kakashi's head snapped up in realization and began to push his body into high gear. _I forgot about Anko!_

_Which means if I don't hurry…Iruka is going to get molested…._

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"ANKO! Hands off!"

"Awww! But Ruka-chan, you look so cuuuuuute with your hair down!" Anko said gleefully, "I just want to run my fingers through it!"

"Your fingers were on my ASS...which my hair is NOWHERE near!"

"Ummm…they slipped?"

"Like I'm going to believe that!" Iruka huffed.

"Well believe me when I say this, Ruka-chan, you have to be the prettiest chunnin I've ever seen," Anko said while leering at Iruka, "So don't mind me if I'm just wanting to sample the goods."

"Number one, stop calling me 'Ruka-chan'. Number two, If I knew wearing my hair down was going make you want to play 'grab-ass' with me, I would never have done it!" Iruka said through his clenched teeth, "And number three…you are definitely NOT sampling ANY of my goods!"

"Aww come on! Look! Your face is already flushed red with anticipation!" Anko said.

"More like frustration!"

"Oh really?" Anko's eyes lit up mischievously while Iruka's eyes narrowed in anger.

"Not that type of frustration!"

"Hmmm I'm not so sure about that…." Anko said. "What's the problem with having a casual relationship anyways? You seriously look like you need to get laid."

Iruka wasn't sure if his face could turn any redder, but he knew it was on fire at that last comment. "My sexual encounters are none of your business Anko-san!"

"Do you even like girls? Cause if you do, you are totally sending out the wrong signals." Anko pointed out.

"Well then why don't you take a hint and stop trying to feel me up!"

"Hrmph. So you are gay…" Anko sighed. "Damn, now I owe Ebisu…which I ought to make you pay since it is technically your fault that I lost…"

"Do what?!" Iruka yelled. "You mean to tell me that you and another shinobi have a wager on my sexual preference!"

"We're jounin…we do this for entertainment."

Iruka just stared at Anko with a look of bewilderment on his face. _Well that explains a lot._ "Still, you shouldn't do things like that. It's rude." Iruka said snapping out of his trance as he turned around and went back to work on his half of the decorations. "And besides, I'm not gay." he added.

"Ha! Wow you're gay and don't even know it. Now that's some fascinating news I can pass around the mission room." Anko countered back.

"I'm not gay!" Iruka exclaimed. "And no one would believe you if you did spread something stupid like that around the mission room."

"Oh…I beg to differ." Anko said mysteriously. Iruka stopped decorating and shot her a 'huh?' look. Anko took that as her cue to elaborate, "You've been spending an awful lot of time hanging out with our resident grey-haired menace."

"Pffft! You mean Kakashi?" Iruka asked. Anko nodded her head and he laughed, "He's only a friend."

"Interesting, you've evolved from hating his guts to using his name without an honorific." Anko pointed out. "Never thought that would happen."

Iruka scrunched up his face and gave the flowers he held in his hands a sour look. "Your right, I did hate him. But after I spent some time with him and got to know him a little better, he's actually a really good guy." Iruka said, turning to Anko to give her a small smile, "And he's not a menace and I'm proud to say that he's my friend."

"Hmmm….again…interesting…" Anko said as she turned back around to finish decorating her side of the temple.

Iruka grumbled to himself. _What's wrong with me being friends with Kakashi? Damn her…she worded it like that on PURPOSE…now I'm curious…_"Ok…you got my attention…why do you keep saying the word 'interesting' after every time I say something about him?" Iruka asked.

"Well, it's like this." Anko said nonchalantly, "Even since Kakashi made genin at six, he's been quite busy. So busy in fact, that he's never really made friends with anyone. I mean, he knows us and a few of our little quirks and whatnot, but no one is on the level of what being a 'friend' is. Of course that is…until you came along."

"He's friends with Gai."

"No, he's a victim of Gai's random spurts of insanity."

"Hmm touché," Iruka said thoughtfully. "I don't know why you seem so interested in this. What's so wrong with Kakashi having a friend?"

"There's nothing wrong with it. In fact, this is probably the best thing that has happened to him in a while." Anko said, "So you're kind of now obligated to NOT screw it up."

"I don't plan on it. I'm even going to come clean about that first kunai practice with the kids." Iruka said. "I want to be good friends with him, so I need to be trustworthy."

"Oooo! If only I could be a fly on the wall when that conversation goes down," Anko cackled, "Poor Sharingan Kakashi won't know what to do when he finds out that a cranky chunnin with a posse of kids owned him on the first day of school!" Anko broke out laughing at the look of despair on Iruka's face. "I just hope he doesn't kill you!" she added.

"Or decide that he wants nothing to do with me." Iruka said downheartedly. "I've been really worried about that, which is why I've been dragging my feet in telling him."

Anko stopped laughing and gave Iruka a critical look. "This is really bothering you isn't it?"

"Yeah, I like him, and he doesn't deserve to be lied to or treated that way."

"So you 'like' him and you 'care' about his feelings towards you." Anko inquired and Iruka shook his head to confirm her words. Her mouth suddenly twisted up into a smirk, "You _are_ gay, and you have a crush on Kakashi." Iruka looked like he was on the verge of exploding but Anko already had her hand up to stifle the outburst. "Seriously, Ruka-chan…you just need to accept it and move ahead. Trying to figure out all of the details is not going to get you laid any quicker. I say just corner him and jump his bones," she finished with a small giggle.

"ANKO!! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"Iruka began to rant, but again Anko put her hand up again to stop the chunnin.

"Nothing is wrong with me. I'm just a straight-forward kind of girl and I have a habit of telling people how life really is. Some people call it a personality trait…or defect…it really depends on who you're talking to …" Anko then gave Iruka another leer and began making her way towards where he was standing. "And since I'm so straight-forward, we should do a little field test to see whether or not you're completely gay. You might be bisexual…and in that case you wouldn't have to wait for Kakashi to ease your…" She reached out to make a grab for Iruka's personal 'bits' as she slinked up close to the chunnin and finished her sentence with a lusty whisper, "…_frustrations…"_

Anko grabbed the chunnin's package and planted her lips on Iruka's mask-covered…wait…_mask-covered?_

"Maaa, you're not such a good kisser Anko-chan. And would you please withdraw your hand from nuts? Thanks." Kakashi said as her moved her hand away from him and stepped back to give a bewildered Iruka, who now happened to be on the other side of the room due to a body-swapping jutsu, a reassuring eye-crinkle.

"Where in the hell did you come from?" Anko pouted. "And by the way, you're late."

"A group of pygmies stopped me and asked directions to the Hokage Monument, and I felt that needed to give them a personal tour."

"Pygmies?"

"Yes, pygmies."

Anko just blinked. "You are so utterly full of shit."

Kakashi just tilted his head and smiled politely, the eye again doing its best to represent the copy-nin's expression, "Why thank you Anko-chan." He turned around to where Iruka was standing. "Are you almost done Iruka?"

"Err…not completely," Iruka answered, still confused and in awe of what just happened, "And…um… I…I think I left the other flower garlands in the back." he said as he did a quick survey of his work.

"Well, perhaps I can help you finish since the wedding seems to be running late by the looks of things."

"It's not running late," Anko snorted, "Kurenai told you 9 a.m. because she knew _you _would be late. The actual wedding starts at 10:00."

"Figures." Kakashi said to himself. "Well, I can still help if there's some work to be done."

"Ok then," Iruka said, "I'll be right back." He made a beeline for the doors at the back and disappeared.

Anko watched the chunnin flee and giggled, "Man, I was so close this time…"

"Which is why he should have some sort of restraining order against you. If I hadn't shown up when I did, Kami only knows what would have happened." Kakashi snidely replied.

"Awww…what's wrong Kakashi? Afraid that I'll break your little boyfriend?"

"Maaa, just protecting my friends is all." Kakashi answered. "And he's not my boyfriend."

"Whatever." Anko shrugged, "Call him what you want to, but you've never been that sociable with anyone before you took on teaching at the Academy."

"I am sociable with others." Kakashi muttered.

"Dropping in and slitting people's throats on missions does not qualify as being 'sociable'. In fact, I believe that would be considered as the being the exact opposite of the term," Anko said. "And you know damn good and well Gai's competitions don't count either. We all know most of that is forced interaction…"

"Which reminds me, is Gai coming to the wedding?" Kakashi said in hopes of changing the subject, "I forgot to ask Kurenai."

"He's coming," a voice said from the back of the temple. Kakashi and Anko turned around to see Kurenai looking quite exquisite in her wedding garments. "He said he wouldn't miss this for anything, 'on the honor of his youth' was his exact words actually." Kurenai gave Kakashi an amused look. "Well I see our little plan worked out after all…"

"Wow! You look great Kurenai!" Anko exclaimed.

"Thanks! And the both of you look great as well. Kakashi…wow. You certainly clean up quite nicely." Kurenai said as she admired the taller ninja in his silver yukata accompanied by a matching silver forehead wrap. She made her way closer to where the other two shinobi were standing while getting a good look at the temple. "And the decorations look beautiful too."

"Well, Ruka-chan and I did do the place justice…" Anko said as Kakashi snorted at her usage of suffixes for Iruka. Anko turned around and gave Kakashi an evil smile, "Awww he's getting all pissy again over _his_ Iruka."

Kurenai gave Kakashi a questioning look. "_Your Iruka_? What the hell… did I miss a memo?" she turned to Anko for answers, "Ok…now you're under the responsibility to spill…"

"There's nothing to talk about. Apparently I'm not allowed to have friends of any sort while I teach at the Academy according to Anko." Kakashi said in defense.

"I never said that. I just said that you hardly talk to anyone, but I know for a fact that you and Iruka have gone out to eat together every night this week and you guys hang out in each other's classrooms during your lunch breaks," Anko said.

"Wow, where did you get all that information?" Kurenai asked.

"Yes, I'd like to know as well…" _So I can ask them politely… with a kunai …to stay the hell out of my personal life…_Kakashi thought to himself.

"I have my sources." Anko said.

"Hn. How convenient."

"Let's get back to Kakashi and Iruka, because now I'm curious." Kurenai said.

"There's nothing to 'get back' to. We're just friends is all." Kakashi said defensively.

"Sure you are. Just keep telling yourself that." Anko said with a smirk.

"We are!" Kakashi said angrily. "Just what makes you think otherwise!?"

"Well for one," Anko began, "You're very defensive about this. Secondly, you're obviously in denial… and possibly sexually frustrated as well." She stopped to tap her fingers to her lips in thought, "Which would be odd considering the amount of porn you read."

"I'm not being defensive, and I'm not in denial! And furthermore, I have better things to do than worry about getting laid." Kakashi said.

"I'm telling you, you are totally frustrated." Anko said. "It's ok though, I talked with Ruka-chan and he's got the same problem as you."

"You mean to tell me that you told Iruka the same thing you are telling Kakashi?" Kurenai asked.

"Yup, and he's in denial too. Not to mention he was very defensive over Kakashi…" Anko said.

_Iruka stood up for me? _Kakashi wondered to himself. _It's not like that is hard to believe or anything, I mean, Iruka would be the type to stand up for others._ Kakashi gave the two kunoichi a wary look as they chattered and gossiped with one another. _Actually a lot of what Anko is rambling about is true. We have been hitting the ramen stand every night and just talking about everything. We do hang out at lunch together, but were talking about the kids and lesson plans! Nothing else! Well, I mean…at least I think that's all we've been talking about…_ Kakashi shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind. _We have been making homemade bentos for one another…but he brought me food first! I was just trying to be nice, and … and…he taught me how to dance so I wouldn't look like an idiot today…_

"Kakashi! Snap out of it!" Anko hollered while snapping her fingers in front of his face.

"Huh?"

"I asked you why on earth you would choose Ruka-chan to be your first real friend." Anko asked. "Inquiring minds want to know."

"Listen damn it." Kakashi growled. "Stop calling him 'Ruka-chan'. And I'd rather be friends with someone who is intelligent and is a good conversationalist rather than someone who is always in someone else's business."

"Hmmm…intelligent huh? You know that he's still only a chunnin right?" Anko asked.

"Of course I know, and it is entirely his choice that he still is where he is and I respect him for that." Kakashi replied.

"Well that's good." Kurenai said with a giggle, "What else do you like about him?"

"Well…" Kakashi stopped to think about all of Iruka's good points. "He's an excellent teacher…and uh…he's also just really great with kids. And um… oh yeah…he's a good cook and a good dancer."

"Dancer?" Both kunoichi said in unison.

_Oh shit…_ "Erm…yeah…" Kakashi said somewhat timidly.

"And how do you that he's a good dancer, Kakashi?" Anko asked.

"Um…cause…" _Might as well tell them and get it over with. _"He taught me how to dance for the wedding." He turned to Kurenai and gave her a quick explanation. "See, I didn't know how to dance, and I didn't want to ruin your wedding reception by screwing up when it came time for me to dance with you. I was worried about it, and thankfully, Iruka offered to help and I took him up on it."

"AWWWWW." Both girls cooed together. Kakashi rolled his eyes… _I knew that was going to happen…_

"Hey wait a minute …" Anko stopped gushing long enough to point out what she thought was extremely important. "But you already know that there is a dance hall at the edge of town…"

"Yeah…and?" Kakashi asked.

"Well, if you were so concerned about learning how to dance, why didn't you just go down there and watch through the window with your Sharingan to copy the dance moves?" Anko inquired

"I…I…" Kakashi gave Anko a blank stare. _Huh…I don't have an answer for that. Wait, WHY didn't I think of that to begin with? Was it because I wanted to learn from Iruka? _Kakashi froze when a realization hit him. _It was a reason to hang out with him…um…shit…_

"And that brings me back to my first point," Anko said grinning like a mad woman, "You like Iruka. So I suppose the next question is….when are you planning to sex him up?"

"WHAT?!" Kakashi decided that this little chat was traveling WAY out of his comfort zone. "You're can't be serious…"

"Well yeah…I mean…your junk isn't broken or anything is it? Here, let me get another feel just to make sure…" Anko said as she stepped forward to make a play for Kakashi's crotch.

"Anko! What the…" Kakashi exclaimed as he swatted her hand away from him. "There is nothing wrong with my equipment!"

"Ahh…so it's experience that you're lacking…"

Kakashi instantly felt his face go beet red. "That's none of your business!"

"Haha! I was just kidding Kakashi…don't take it so ser…hey wait…" Anko said studying Kakashi's face. "Say Kurenai, look at his face…I think he's blushing. The mask is covering most of it, obviously, but still…look under his eye…"

Kurenai was in the middle of a laughing fit but stopped when she got a good look at the copy-nin's face. "Wow…I think you're right."

"Which means…" Anko said with a full blown leer on her face. "That you really DON'T have any experience. Which means…no way…" Anko's eyes went wide at her final conclusion. "No. Fucking. Way. Holy shit, you're a virgin aren't you?"

Kakashi sighed as he tried desperately to will away the tell-tale blush. "I've had enough of this conversation. Kurenai, please make your friend shut up."

Kurenai might have actually shut Anko up…if it hadn't been for the fact that she was rolling around on the floor trying to suffocate herself. Apparently breathing and laughing cannot be done simultaneously.

"HA! You are!" Anko was practically jumping up and down at her newfound information. "Wow…then why do you read the Icha Icha series?"

"Damn you Anko!" Kakashi was completely fed up at this point, but considering the amount of information the girls now knew, he'd had better explain himself before they came up with their own reasons for his virginity. "I'm a shinobi of Kohona. My life is centered and focused on keeping this village safe from whatever may cause it harm. Being in frivolous relationships would just get in the way of my duties. I have the Sharingan, and with it comes responsibility as well. I have to take care of the village and myself before anything else. And if you haven't noticed, the village has been quite demanding of my time since I was a child. So excuse me if I haven't been promiscuous enough for your tastes!"

"You still didn't answer my question as to why you read porn…."

Kakashi huffed. "I read it for the plot."

"I'll repeat what I said earlier…you are utterly full of shit."

"Well it's better than saying 'I read it for my own personal release'."

"Well that's perfectly ok Kakashi!" Anko said cheerfully. "At least you're coming to terms with how you handle your sexuality."

" Arrrgh! Would you just shut up already?"

"So since both you and Iruka are gay…you two should totally hook up." Anko concluded.

"What!?" Kakashi exclaimed, "Exactly how do you know or what makes you think that the both of us are gay?"

Kurenai finally stopped laughing long enough to answer Kakashi's question. "That's easy, we're women. We have Gaydar no Jutsu."

"Gaydar no Jutsu?" Kakashi tilted his head to the side in confusion, "Is that a kind of ninjutsu or genjitsu?" He pushed away the silver cloth he wore in place of his forehead protector, "Can I copy it?"

This time it was Anko's turn to laugh hysterically. Before she could answer him, Iruka walked back in with an arm's load full of more flowers and decorations. "Sorry I took long…I had a hard time trying to find…"

"Don't worry about it, let's just finish decorating." Kakashi interrupted as he forced his eye-covering back into its proper place. He walked over to Iruka and pulled the decorations out of his arms.

"Uh ok…" Iruka said as he turned to the two kunoichi who were still in separate fits of giggles. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," Kakashi said. "The both of them were actually fixing to LEAVE because Kurenai still needs help getting ready," he said as he shot both of them a murderous glare.

The girls knew they had been pushing their luck with the copy-nin this morning, so they took it as their cue to disappear. "Yeah sorry Ruka-chan," Anko said, "but I got to help Kurenai with her hair. Kakashi will help you finish."

"Um ok…" Iruka said, still slightly confused about what was going on. _I'll just ask Kakashi when they leave…_

The girls pranced out the door in what Iruka thought as being in way too good of a mood, so when they left he had to ask, "Ok…what did they say?"

"All sorts of evil things…" Kakashi muttered.

Iruka gave the older man a small chuckle, "Now come on, it couldn't have been that bad."

"Oh you have NO idea…"

Iruka chuckled a little harder. "So are you going to tell me?"

Kakashi thought about how he should answer that question. _If I tell him, it might scare him and he might not want to be friends with me anymore. But on the other hand…wait…when did there become two sides to this? Do I really like him? How do I know for sure? Shit…I don't know what to do. _"I'll tell you what, I'll tell you after the reception, because we only have a little bit of time before the ceremony begins." _When in doubt, stall for time…and I'm not drunk enough yet to have this conversation with you…_

"Ok, then let's finish up." Iruka said as he started hanging up more garland. It only took the two another twenty minutes to be completely done, and it would have been done quicker, but both ninja were sneaking peeks at one another and becoming lost in their own thoughts to be fully concentrated on their tasks.

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The wedding went off without a hitch. Tsunade was present to properly wed the couple and there were enough people there to bear witness and wish both Kurenai and Asuma a wonderful future. It wasn't too much later when everyone made it down to the reception hall where most of the village's shinobi were already present in various states of drunkenness. Asuma let out a long sigh as he took two offered drinks from Genma, "Well, we might as well get the party started."

"Where were all these people earlier during the wedding?" Kakashi leaned over and whispered to Iruka.

"Ah, I think it was supposed to be a somewhat quiet wedding. You know how the civilians are. We ninja should be concentrating on protecting the village, not taking a break or having a good time." Iruka whispered back. "It's why there were so few of us at the temple."

"Ahh I see…" Kakashi said, "So not to attract any attention." He promptly snagged a couple of cups of sake off of one of the tables and handed one to Iruka. "Bottoms up, Iruka," he said.

"In a hurry to get buzzed?" Iruka asked jokingly.

_If only you knew…_ "Hmm…maybe." Kakashi said lightly. Iruka just chuckled and downed his cup of alcohol. He already knew Kakashi's was empty by the time he was done drinking, he had been with the man for almost a solid two weeks to fully know how the masked man ate and drank. He turned back to take Kakashi's cup away to go get a refill, but was met with yet another full cup from the copy-nin. "Here, you need to keep up," Kakashi said with a wink.

"If you keep drinking like that you're not going to be able to stand up straight, much less be able to dance with Kurenai." Iruka pointed out after downing his second cup.

"I like a challenge." Kakashi muttered.

"Don't say that, or at least not too loudly. Gai might hear you and it will be all over from there." Iruka said with a smirk.

"That's ok. I'll just tell him we have to do something that involves another person's assistance." Kakashi said as Iruka's smirk turned into a scowl. "Wouldn't want you to feel left out or anything."

"I'll think I'll live." Iruka said not bothering to hide the annoyed tone in his voice.

Kakashi chuckled and gently squeezed the chunnin's shoulder. "Maa, I wouldn't do that to you. But speaking of assistance, I'm going to be training with my Sharingan tomorrow and I was wondering if you'd be nice enough to make sure nothing horrible happens…you know…like me falling over due to chakra depletion." _Plus I need more time to figure out things between me and you…_

"Depends. Are you feeding me?" Iruka asked in a playful tone.

"Of course, how's sushi sound?."

"Sounds good and I'll be there. Ooo look! Time for the speeches!" Iruka exclaimed as he watched Anko stand on her chair and clap her hands together for everyone's attention.

"Speeches?" Kakashi asked in a confused tone. "What's the big deal about speeches?"

"It's what comes after the speeches are what I'm excited about." Iruka said "That's when the dancing will begin."

Kakashi let out a groan as Iruka laughed at the copy-nin's apprehension. "Don't worry about it…just keep drinking. Then maybe you won't remember any of this tomorrow."

"I seriously doubt I'll be that lucky."

The post-wedding speeches were far too short in Kakashi's opinion, and he soon found himself walking up to Kurenai (due to Iruka's incessant prodding) to ask her for a few spins around the dance floor. She graciously accepted the masked ninja's hand and they began to make their way to the center of the floor with everyone's eyes upon the couple.

"You seem nervous." Kurenai pointed out quietly as they waited for the music to start up. "Don't be, I'm sure Iruka taught you well."

"We'll see…"Kakashi's words trailed off as the song started. _Ok Hatake…let's do this._ He slowly began to lead Kurenai around the floor and the new bride looked at him in shock.

"Wow, I am impressed. You're doing great," the kunoichi said with a smile. "You learned very well."

"Iruka taught me well. He deserves the praise more than I do."

"Are you always going to give him more credit than yourself?" Kurenai asked playfully.

"Depends on whether or not he's earned it." Kakashi replied. _Hmm…I'm probably going to regret this later…_"May I ask you something?"

Kurenai's eyebrows furrowed together at the question. "Sure, what's on your mind?"

_It's just a simple question…I'm not admitting to ANYTHING…_ Kakashi told himself. He had some time during the speeches to figure out that he was definitely going to need some questions answered. _Might as well get this over with… _"When did you realize your feelings for Asuma? Were you two really good friends at first? Or was it just a random thing? And how can you tell when…"

"Whoa! Slow down there lover boy…" Kurenai said with a giggle. "Your academy students are starting to rub off on you."

Kakashi just 'humphed' and Kurenai gave him another giggle. "I want to answer your questions, but I don't think I'll have enough time." Kakashi's eye gave her a quizzical look, "Asuma's heading this way to cut in."

"Ahh I see."

"We'll get together later this week, ok?" the kunoichi asked and the copy-nin readily shook his head to agree.

"Do me a favor and don't tell Anko…please…" Kakashi said in a low rushed voice as Asuma came within a couple of feet of the couple.

"I won't" Kurenai said quietly as she looked up at her new husband with a winning smile. "Hey there handsome."

"May I cut in?" Asuma asked Kakashi.

The copy-nin spun Kurenai into Asuma's arms. "There you go, you can probably handle her better than I can."

"I think you did quite well. Who knew the Sharingan warrior could dance eh?" Asuma asked as he spun his bride around said warrior.

"Yeah…who knew…" Kakashi shrugged and walked over to where Iruka was sitting.

Kurenai watched the two men talk back and forth for a brief moment before she saw Iruka face become red from a sudden blush. _Kakashi's complementing him…no doubt._

"What's so interesting over there, dear?" Asuma quietly asked.

"Oh…not much," was her simple reply. _Just watching something spectacular in the making…_ she thought as she continued to watch the two ninja easily converse with one another. _We're going to have one hell of a talk aren't we Hatake?_

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Later that night, Kakashi was still somewhat inebirated and sprawled out on his bed replaying today's events in his mind. Anko's words were also tumbling around in his head as he thought about the chunnin and the wedding. _Maybe the girls are reading way too much into our friendship. I mean, he's not a bad catch or anything, especially with those eyes and that scar running over his tanned face that turns red at the slightest sign of embarrassment. _Kakashi absent-mindedly ran his hand over the soft fabric of his pajamas in the same area that Anko had violated this morning with her own hand. _He has a really nice smile, and look at the bright side, he's done well for a shinobi regardless of rank. Hell, he still has all his appendages and teeth, and that's practically a bonus in a society of ninja…_

He let out a soft sigh and he once again ran his hand over the nether regions of his anatomy and felt himself swell under his hand's attention. _He had his hair down today, and I almost didn't recognize him when I got to the temple. It wasn't until he turned around and I saw his face that I knew it was him. Mmmm, I wonder if his hair feels as soft as it looks? _His cock twitched at the thought and he softly palmed his appendage once more through his pajamas, completely lost in his thoughts of Iruka. _I can almost smell his hair… _Kakashi tugged a little harder and his breaths became a little shorter. _He pouted when he asked me again what the girls said earlier before the wedding and I told him that I had forgotten. He looked so adorable. When he pouts, his lips seem so full and soft…I wonder what they taste like…wait…_ Kakashi stopped and realized where his hand was and what it was in the process of doing.

_What the HELL am I doing?_ He scolded himself, thinking that his body would cooperate. _Bad hand! Baaaad penis! Gah! Stop twitching like that!_ His cock twitched as if was being defiant. _You're mocking me aren't you?_ Again, it gave him another twitch in response. _Little bastard…_

A wave of guilt passed through the jounin. _What kind of friend am I turning out to be? This is wrong, on SO many levels…_ His anatomy on the other hand begged to differ as it actually began to ache from the frustration it was being put through._ Stupid body! Just stop!_ _Damn it!_ Not knowing what else to do, he leaned over and yanked the drawer of his night stand open and rummaged around until he found the small bottle of lotion he was blindly searching for. He quickly shoved down the waitband of his sleepwear to let his cock bask in the nighttime air. _When in the hell did I become this needy?_ No matter what Kakashi's frail mind thought at the moment, his body seemed to be going on auto-pilot. _For Kami's sake…SLOW DOWN! _His hands refused to pay mental instructions any heed because after popping the top on the bottle, he almost poured too much lotion into his palm and began to sloppily work himself to the point of release.

_I can't hold it in, when have I EVER lost this much control…_he silently mused to himself as his hand jerked back and forth over his pale skin. _Grrr…have to…have…to…gah…too much…too INTENSE…too fast…_ The erratic movements were becoming too much for the jounin to handle. _Can't stop…mmm…can't BREATHE…must...I got to…got to…ahhhhh…_

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" he half-groaned and half -cried as he quickly made a complete mess of himself and his bed sheets. Kakashi gave a defeated sigh, _Kami…what is WRONG with me? It's got to be the alcohol. _Sadly enough, the copy-nin realized, that was now sitting up in bed fully sober. _Well grat, I can't blame it on the alcohol now. I've GOT to get some answers from SOMEWHERE. _He ran the hand that wasn't covered in cum through his hair as he stood up and made his way to the bathroom.

_I can't believe that just happened, I mean, all of my Icha Icha-induced masturbation sessions had absolutely NOTHING on this. Maybe the girls were right, it's apparently obvious that I like him….WAY more than what I'm willing to admit to anyone, including my own self. _He washed his hands and took a long look at himself in the bathroom mirror. _I just jerked off to my own perverse thoughts of a MAN. Something is WRONG with me._ He ran his hands along the sides of his face. _Maybe this is just some sort of weird stage in my life. I've been fighting out in the field for so long, and now things are much calmer with me teaching at the Academy. I wonder if I'm going through some sort of mid-life crisis. Maybe I have some sort of post-traumatic stress syndrome that makes me horny at the thought of men… _He shook his head at the last thought and the utter absurdness of it.

_I need to do some research on this is all..._he rationalized to himself._ I just need some answers to some questions, and I'll start tomorrow…AFTER Iruka leaves from my Sharingan training. And damn it… I'm going to keep myself in check and not act weird around him. _He looked down at his lifeless member and narrowed his eyes. _That goes for you too buddy…and you should be ashamed of yourself…didn't even last a full two minutes…what happened to your stamina?!_ The sated part of his body seemed to radiate innocence as Kakashi took it in his hands and flipped the tip up towards his face, as if he really expected an explanation from his penis. _Damn you…you almost made me break my wrist…_ He continued to scowl until his eyes caught a glimpse of his actions in the mirror and quickly let go of his manly goods. He slapped the light switch off in a huff. _I swear I'm losing my MIND…._

_And I have Anko to blame for ALL of this. I was FINE until she started running her mouth about me 'sexing' him up and whatnot…_ The thought of 'sexing' Iruka up made Kakashi's blood start to run warm again and he groaned as his tried to bury his head in his pillow in an attempt to suffocate himself into a coma so that it would drive his blood flow into the larger of his two heads.

_That's it…I'm KILLING Anko…_

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A dark-haired chunnin on the other side of town finally stopped sneezing long enough to crash head first in his own personal dreamland. _Must be my allergies…mmm…wonder if Kakashi is allergic to anything?_ He lazily thought as he finally slipped into sleep mode. "Mmm…Ka..ka..shi…" he mumbled as he let his mind drift away.


End file.
